What to Do

Choose the Franchise That’s Right For You

The pet care industry has grown dramatically since the days of COVID-19, creating the perfect environment for new pet-centric businesses to open. However, this doesn’t mean that anyone will be an ideal fit for Hounds Town or the pet industry as a whole. Rather than jumping into a franchise because you like the idea of the business, do your research and make sure that you’re the ideal type of Franchise Owner they’re looking for before signing on and making your investment official.

Prioritize Your Marketing

We can’t overstate the importance marketing plays to the overall success of your Hounds Town doggy daycare. While this could be through maintaining a social media presence, it could also be through flyers in your local pet stores, word-of-mouth, or even your attendance at events in your community, like farmer’s markets, pet expos, and more. To learn more about what it takes to market a doggy daycare business and how our Hounds Town team supports our Franchise Owners with all their marketing efforts, check out our recent blog on the subject!

Become a Strong Leader for Your Team

You’ve heard the saying, ‘You can’t be everywhere at once,’ and no matter how much you wish you could clone yourself and handle everything as a business owner, you’ll quickly recognize how essential each team member is to the success of your franchise business. Your employees will become the first face your customers see each day in your stead, so you’ll need to instill a sense of ownership in them that can only be done by acting as a team-first leader.

Be an Active Member of Your Community

As a Hounds Town Franchise Owner, much of your work will revolve around dogs, of course, as well as becoming a pillar of the pet care industry in your community. Building connections with other businesses and organizations in your area, like those in the shelter, adoption, and pet goods, will help you establish industry relationships that eventually lead to growing your business in the long term. 

What Not to Do

Don’t Plan to Sit Behind a Desk All Day

While there are franchises out there that enable their Owners to sit in their home office all day, if you plan to be an Owner-Operator, Hounds Town is not one of them. As a Franchisee of our doggy daycare model, you can expect to spend your day doing everything from helping customers at your reception desk to working with the dogs themselves, in addition to the occasional administrative desk work, employee management, and face-to-face communication with your community.

Don’t Limit Your Growth

It’s natural for a franchise business to scale as it becomes more known and trusted in its territory, so it’s important to prepare yourself to grow once you have a handle on your day-to-day. If you don’t plan for growth and success, you could unintentionally restrict your business by not staffing appropriately or expanding into a larger or even second location to accommodate increased client demand.

Don’t Neglect Your Financing Options

Launching a business can often be significantly more expensive than originally planned because new entrepreneurs rarely know what expenses to expect. However, by joining an established franchise, you’ll receive guidance on the initial financial investment involved, as well as what kinds of expenses you can expect in the long run. It’s also not uncommon for your franchise of choice to help you understand all the different financing options available to you so you won’t need to cash out your savings, retirement funds, or investment assets just to get started.

When you join Hounds Town, your initial financial investment starts at just $457,200, which is a fraction of the cost of other doggy daycare franchises on the market. However you choose to fund your business, both in the beginning and later, as you expand, don’t forget that financing is always available to you. That’s exactly what our newest Owner to join the Hounds Town pack did, and we couldn’t be more excited to introduce her!

Introducing Mary Hoy, Our Newest Franchisee from Huntsville, Alabama!

We never get tired of welcoming new Franchise Owners to our pack, and our latest addition is a hardworking former accountant out of Alabama. Already equipped with our dos and don’ts, and best practices, Mary Hoy is ready to finally build a business for herself and leave the corporate world behind!

From Accounting to Her Summer Camp Background

There are only a handful of people who can say that they spent more than 40 years of their career in the same industry, but that’s exactly what Mary did when she became a corporate accountant! After spending over 18 years with Motorola, she moved to Abercrombie & Kent, a luxury travel company, for 20+ years. In both positions, she was laid off due to downsizing efforts but chose to stick with accounting as she had in years prior.

At the same time, Mary followed a personal passion and managed day and summer camps for the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts of America while living in Chicago. Recently, she made the decision to move to Huntsville, Alabama, where she has continued her corporate accounting career from her home office.

Finding Franchising & Hounds Town USA

While Mary originally began looking at bar and restaurant franchises, she quickly realized that her heart wasn’t in it – especially once she considered the late hours that often come with this type of business. Instead, she looked toward her life and eventually realized that she found so much joy in her own two rescue dogs that she wanted to join the pet care industry. While she found several doggy daycares, it was Hounds Town’s atmosphere that she felt most comfortable taking her own dogs to, and it was this that sealed the deal and led her to sign on with our franchise family at Approval Day.

Our Q&A Session with Mary

While Mary’s back in her territory after training, preparing to open the doors of her own doggy daycare, she made the time to sit down with our team for a quick Q&A! We got to know the newest member of our Hounds Town pack even better, so check out this sneak peek into some of the insight she gave us into why she chose to leave the corporate world behind and join our pet franchise.

What about your previous experience do you think will make you successful with your own business?

Mary: “The biggest thing is that I think I’m capable of being able to manage five different pet areas, just from the experience I had, not only in my work world but [also] when I was working with the Scouts so intensely. It was always so much because there were so many people and you met so many different people; it was always a new experience each weekend. That’s how I’m looking at this, [like] every day’s going to be a new experience. To me, that’s what you get up for, you know?”

What do you look forward to most about owning your Hounds Town doggy daycare?

M: “When I was looking at the different websites, it looked like it would be a fun place to work. Like I said, for years, I ran a Summer camp/day camp for Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, and I thought, ‘I did that for years with the human side of things, I’m thinking I could really rock it doing it with dogs!’ I really want to give back to the community, hopefully help with adoptions, and maybe foster some dogs. [I look forward to] meeting new people, meeting new fur babies, and having an opportunity to do something for the community, but also for myself.”

Whether something in Mary’s story struck a chord with you or you’re confident you already have a handle on the dos and don’ts of running your own franchise business, the Hounds Town USA pack may be the place for you. Our doggy daycare business model is designed for anyone to join the pet care industry, regardless if you have any experience with dogs or not! Come join the dogs and take our quick qualification quiz today to see if you’re a good fit to become our next Franchisee.