FRANCHISES
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Franchise Favorites (February.March 2007)
A Hairy Business
By Taylor Mallory
Eight years after her husband died in a plane crash, Heidi Flammang, 40, dusted off the business plan they'd written together and opened her first doggie daycare center in Boulder, Colo. She began franchising Camp Bow Wow in May 2003. As of today, she has sold 150 franchises nationwide. Franchisees purchase their camps for a $50,000 fee and pay Flammang 6 percent of gross monthly sales in royalties. Camp Bow Wow brought in $6.5 million systemwide (including individual camps' sales) in 2005 and about $8 million in 2006.
Flammang recently took time from her hairy schedule to talk to PINK about picking up the pieces and financing her dream.
How many dogs do you have?
One. A 100-pound black Lab named Ray-Ray [short for Raider]. I live in a 1,300-square-foot loft with my 11-year-old daughter, Tori, so he's all we have room for. And I'm always fostering a dog, so there's usually another one running around – just a much smaller one.
Why did you start Camp Bow Wow?
I'm passionate about dogs and was frustrated that I couldn't find a place to take my own dogs that met my standards. And you can only use and abuse your family for so long when you have three dogs. Right next door to my dad's first business was Doggie Day Camp, one of the first doggie daycares in the U.S. I kept asking the owner to sell it to me or franchise. She said, "No, there are plenty of dogs. Start your own company." So I adopted some of the services she offered and developed some of my own.
How did you finance it?
I had an MBA and about $100,000 left [from a settlement following my husband's death] and started the company with that. And I've been rolling and investing all the money back into the business. At one point, I took out a home equity loan for $100,000. So I've put $200,000 in this and lived off my savings. I've just started paying myself $75,000 plus a bonus based on annual sales.
What's the smartest thing you did?
I own 100 percent of the company. I'm proud of myself for holding onto that and getting through some tough financial challenges without selling. And I took advice from my dad: Surround yourself with great people. I have a smart team that is as passionate about dogs as I am and as concerned with safety. That's made all the difference.
What's the most innovative thing you've done for business development?
Integrating technology into my business model in a big way – like live webcams so clients can check on their dogs from work, and online reservations.
What's the funniest experience you've had with this business?
Our first big article was in the Rocky Mountain News. On the day of the interview, I was running late so my brother was running the business. As the reporter came in, my brother yelled at one of the dogs, "Hey, no humping!" And guess what the headline was?
How has business affected your life balance?
Being a single mom has been the biggest challenge of starting a business, especially with all the traveling I have to do. My family and friends and even my office manager pitch in and help with my daughter. Without them I wouldn't have been able to do this. But it allows me to schedule my life around my daughter even though I typically work 10 to 11 hours a day. I typically work in the morning for a few hours before I wake my daughter up. I stop working when I pick her up from school and start back for a few more hours after she goes to bed. I harp on my staff: "Turn off the BlackBerry and the computer. Have a great family life along with business." You can pay people less money if you offer them better quality of life. All my staff work from home a few days a week.
What advice do you have for women thinking about franchising their company?
I had no idea what I was getting into with franchising. It's very difficult and legally complicated. There are a lot of restrictions, and it's not the easiest way to grow your business. I would have had more seed money. I would have had a more formal business plan. Only about 5 percent of franchise companies are owned by women. Try out your business plan to make sure it works. And then try a second or even third location before you think about franchising.
Any advice for women thinking about buying a franchise?
It's smart. You have a proven business model, it's easier to get financing and you have a built-in support system. But you've got to select something you're passionate about.
How is this different from how you worked in your corporate jobs?
It's night and day. Pharmaceutical sales is not the toughest job in the world. I only worked about seven to eight hours a day and was pretty successful just doing that. But if you're not passionate about what you do, you only do enough to get by. But I always spent a few hours a day looking into business ideas. I was a typical entrepreneur stuck in the corporate world.
What did you do before this endeavor?
I got a large settlement [after my husband's death] and managed it really poorly. I followed some very high-powered stockbrokers at the advice of a friend of a friend, started a baby catalog company without a solid business plan, and lent money to family and friends that I never saw again. That kind of behavior is common in emotional sudden-wealth situations – having to deal with a personal loss and the acquisition of large sums of money at the same time. So I started a consulting company called The Maginot Group that helped people deal with sudden wealth. If I had an MBA and couldn't figure this out, then I knew other people couldn't. But it got very frustrating, advising people who didn't always listen and watching them make the same mistakes I did.
What have been your best resources?
The International Franchise Association. Going to their national meeting early on was the best possible move I made. I connected with key people in the industry that have led me in the right direction. And mentors like my best friend, Deanna, and my dad, an entrepreneur who is great at sales and raised me to be ambitious. He told me I could do whatever I wanted to do in life. And I read a lot of business magazines to keep up and books like Good to Great (HarperCollins, 2001).
What's your business success secret?
Believing in myself 100 percent and never letting fear sink in. I can't think about failing – just about being successful. There is a solution for every problem. Like with managing cash flow. I take risks and do the right thing for the company, not just what I can afford to do. My staff told me I was crazy when I started spending $20,000 a month on advertising, but I went with my gut and it was the best investment I've made.
What do you do to give back?
All of our camps foster dogs. And we just had a big charity event called Woofstock nationwide, where we raised more than $20,000 for the U.S. Humane Society and local shelters. And it's incredibly important to me to talk to young girls and grow their self-esteem. Watching me grow my business has instilled a great work ethic in Tori and has taught her about self-esteem. So I've started a program with Girl Scouts to teach young girls about business. We had them write a business plan for their own dog programs and decide how to market them – and they had to manage the dogs for a while.
