S1 E12: Betsy Erb – How Combining Franchises is Helping Build an Empire
Military veteran Betsy Erb has a vision. And she’s not going to stop until she’s built her pet franchise empire.
How is she going about it? By leveraging an established franchise brand, Dog Training Elite, to boost a newer opportunity: PetWellClinic.
The Wolf talks to Betsy about how PetWellClinic is solving a massive pain point for the owners of animals in need of urgent care, her short and long term plays, and how she and husband Ed are horizontally integrating in the pet industry.
You’ll also hear how Betsy plans to leverage the two brands, what it’s like taking on a multi-unit deal, and her vision as an entrepreneur.
Multi-units, multi-franchises – this is a business strategy you’ll want to take note of.
Follow Betsy on Instagram:@dogtrainingeliteselouisiana
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Episode Transcription
Betsy Erb:
He was an army pilot. I was an air force pilot. So we have this term that we, we say fire for effect. So that’s basically how we live our lives. We’re like, listen, we’re going, we’re going all in for poker. I love it. You know, analogy, it’s fire fact, baby fire effect. We got, we got
The Wolf of Franchises:
A lot of people now. Yeah. That’s, that’s sick. That’s awesome. Welcome to franchise empires. We’re aspiring entrepreneurs learn exactly what it takes to become a successful franchise owner from one location to 10 and beyond I’m The Wolf of Franchises.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Hey, everyone’s the Wolf today in the show, we have Betsy herb and she has done an interesting strategy from the start. She bought two franchises from the get go. So two separate brands, both in the pet industry and has the goal of building a massive pet franchise holding company. One of the brands is dog training elite, which she’s using for some quick cash returns while the other brand is pet well clinic, which is essentially trying to become the urgent care for dogs and cats. And that’s a longer term play that she plans to build out, you know, over the next decade. But ultimately she sees a lot of benefits from owning multiple brands in the pet space, especially with, you know, how much this industry is booming since COVID. And I think you’re going to really be interested to hear about how she’s thinking about things and how her progress has been so far since buying two separate brands in 2021.
Narrator:
The Wolf of Franchises is the CEO of Wolf pack franchising, as well as a creator at workweek media, all opinions expressed by the Wolf and podcast. Guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Wolf pack franchising or workweek. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. The Wolf work week and Wolf pack franchising may maintain positions in the franchises discussed on this podcast.
The Wolf of Franchises:
So you currently own pet clinic and dog training elite. What size territories are they for? Both? Like how many units?
Betsy Erb:
So dog training elite is, is basically all Southeast Louisiana. So that covers from Baton Rouge through new Orleans and the kind of greater what we call the north shore part of new Orleans. Okay. And then pet well clinic, similar area, but it’s most of its Louisiana plus we’ve just started working through Utah. So salt lake city, Utah from Ogden all the way down to Provo. So got two big territories for pet well and a smaller one for dog training
The Wolf of Franchises:
Elite. Gotcha. Okay, cool. And which one came first
Betsy Erb:
As far as territories or as far as which franchise?
The Wolf of Franchises:
Yeah. Like which franchise did you enter into first?
Betsy Erb:
I think dog training elite. They were, they were kind timed to almost, almost on the exact same timeline, but I think we finalized the franchise agreement with dog training elite first, but they were within a couple weeks of each other. So,
The Wolf of Franchises:
So the intention, I guess, from the get go then was you were looking to do multiple brands from the start.
Betsy Erb:
Yeah. So the appeals started to come, you know, pet well, clinic is a long term process, right? You’re talking brick and mortar, you’re talking veterinarians dog training lead is more of a short game. It was a strategy that I was looking for to do short game, so I could get returned on our investment very quickly versus the longer game at pet. Well, so while we were working up pet, well, we had some sort of positive income with dog training elite, right. So much less overhead, you know, you go to training, you come back and, and really ed and I, my husband, you know, we, we can do it on our own, but we’ve hired trainers, but it it’s kind of supplementing making sure that we can pay the bills while we do everything
The Wolf of Franchises:
Else. Of course. So,
Betsy Erb:
Yeah. So it was a strategic move to do both at the same time
The Wolf of Franchises:
Is dog training elite. Do you have to rent out any brick and mortar or are you going to people’s houses to train their dogs? Yeah.
Betsy Erb:
So the way it works, it’s pretty cool. Actually you have an option to build a facility. So, the, so dog train elite is like a specific type of dog training, but we do basic obedience all the way through service dog, hunting dog. Well, not hunting yet service dog, psychiatric support protection dogs. So it’s a big scale of clients. Yeah. But you know what, what they do and it’s pretty cool is once you sign on with the, the franchise agreement, you go to training in salt lake city where their headquarters is, you learn how to train, you bring your own dog. So you, you learn how to train your dog and then they kind of cut you loose. And which I really like, they’re like, well, you’re on your own good luck. Yeah. You know, I mean, they give you enough to, but you’re certainly not service dog trained.
Betsy Erb:
So they’ve got kind of a, a program, a university that you go through to get to that point. So our process, as we go to people’s homes, it’s an in-home session. If you want to build, depending on how many you buy, you know what I mean? Yeah. If you want to build a, a facility for this, the, that other side of the DTE clients, I was talking about the, you know, service dogs in particular you can, and so most places do. So what, what we’re looking to do is actually we’re trying to negotiate a lease where our first pet, well clinic is in one studio at a, a strip mall. Right. Next door would be our DTE training facility. So, oh, working together and the, the two companies it’s, you know, they match pretty nicely.
The Wolf of Franchises:
So, I mean, we can get more into this, but generally when both locations are kind of, you know, you’re in full swing with both brands, how, how do you see yourself being able to, you know, leverage kind of the, the synergies between them?
Betsy Erb:
Yeah. So good question. Thanks. So first I, I already put, because I wanted to make sure, you know, I’m a big, full transparency person. So I put the CEO of dog training elite and the CEO of pet well clinic, you know, Sam and Kelly together to say, Hey, listen guys, this is what we’re doing. I think we can develop, you know, we’re kind of kind of pilot a strategic partnership, right? So obviously if you come to the dog training elite facility, or you’re a dog training elite client, it’s a very easy opportunity to market pet well and vice versa. Sure. You know, you come in and pet well offers puppy packages, and we can say, you know, Hey, if you really, this dog or, or any of the packages, we see the pet, there’s a potential opportunity or need for training. Then we would sort of say, you know, there’s a training organization right next door, or in, in Baton Rouge where, you know, they can really take care of that.
Betsy Erb:
And obviously I would be transparent, you know, I’m the owner of both, but yeah. You know, so we’re testing it here in Baton Rouge first, and also at the same time, we’re doing a similar program in salt lake city, but the first step in all this is we’re getting ready to do a home show. So in dog training, one of the marketing opportunities that we really like to push is going to shows to demonstrate who we are, you know, and we bring our dogs and we do a little demo, like all sorts of here’s how they do off leash heel. Here’s how they do all this stuff. And that’s kind of fun because it automatically brings people in because they’re like, oh dogs, you know? Yeah. Look at my lab. They’re really cute. Da da and ours are pretty good. And then at the, the show in June, then right next door, we’re going to put the pet well clinic tent, right. To start interacting the clients that come to see the dogs, if they don’t necessarily want training, maybe they need a different vet opportunity. So, we’re starting together in mid-June. See what happens,
The Wolf of Franchises:
How in depth, can you kind of do that cross song that you were talking about? Meaning if they’re right next to each other, I mean, will you be able to have signs almost that say like, I know you can’t co-brand because right. Separate owners, but even maybe I don’t know, on the receipts at your stores or like the invoices, is there any way to say like at the bottom?
Betsy Erb:
Yeah. That’s a great point. You know, like at the bottom of your receipt from pet, well perhaps there’s an opportunity to give a discount for dog training or probably vice versa. The dog training is pretty specific, but really when people invoice, but yeah. I mean it’s things like that. That’s a great idea, you know, and, and even talking to folks like you that, that really have done the franchising thing a lot, you know, getting some ideas on how to, to really have that symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship for both
The Wolf of Franchises:
Companies. No, definitely.
Betsy Erb:
Anything.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Yeah, we I think about a couple months ago we had a guest on who he owned three brands all in like the automotive industry. One was, you know, a, a body shop, one was a maintenance shop and then I can’t remember what, oh, the third one was the supply shop. So he was actually buying supplies from himself <laugh> yeah, he was vertically integrated and he had the horizontal, but it was all owned by this same parent company, which is basically this big, like private equity holding company called driven brands. And that’s what he was doing. He, he was be, but it was obviously the whole, all the brand systems were tied together. So it was a little easier. But yeah, I, I still think it’s, it’s a great idea kind of to do what you’re doing.
Betsy Erb:
It’s super exciting, right. Because the there’s the direct satisfaction from dog training right. Comes in, you know, if you’re a pretty good trainer in the way that we do it, you know, we’ve got a couple trainers plus me and ed there’s specific dogs that breeds or types of dogs, that one of us is better than the other. Yeah. So we try to manage it that way. And, and the clients are just as important as the dogs. So, but it has that immediate gratification of, okay, after this hour I train the dog. Whereas you know, they’re one time client, you know, you’re not going to need us or, or motto is, you know, the last dog trainer you’re ever going to need, then you combine that. So that that’s like this, you know, I feel really good about myself and helping the community and all of these things pet well, you know, we, we’re looking to establish longer term relationships, helping the community in a, in a different way. So they both have appeal to me and I think to, to ed as well. So that’s pretty, it’s pretty exciting
The Wolf of Franchises:
For us and with dog training elite, I think you mentioned earlier, so is that concept designed to be owner operator where you are, you know, the franchisee is training the dogs or is it very possible based on what you’ve seen from other franchisees that you come in and you’re more running the business and you just hire actual trainers.
Betsy Erb:
That’s the goal, right? With the, like we were talking about earlier, the nice appeal is that once you get trained, you have, you can operate under very low cost. Yeah. Right. Because we’ve been trained. So when we started, it was just the two of us. Okay. And then based on demand, we hired two more trainers. So the long goal longer term maybe probably next year would be four trainers in, in that’s. You know, we’re almost really, I mean, we’ve got a huge market in new Orleans that we haven’t even been able to tap out because of the opportunities in Baton Rouge. So we’ll probably need a trainer down in new Orleans would need, you know, trainers here in Baton Rouge. But yes, that’s the goal that, that, you know, ed, ed will step out. I will step out and let this model run itself.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Okay.
Betsy Erb:
Like with a head trainer or something like that, that’s what they do in like salt lake city. But I think we can do that here too. Salt lake city. So dog training elites, biggest ones are salt lake city and Phoenix. And that’s, that’s the way they run them. And so I, there are lots, there’s a lot of appeal to that too. In the long run,
The Wolf of Franchises:
When you’re hiring a trainer, do they already know how to do everything or do, or are they starting from scratch? And they’re just like a dog lover.
Betsy Erb:
It’s kind of like the Nu well model, right. Where sometimes the veteran vet assistants don’t know anything. I’m totally, if you’re passionate about dogs and you, you understand, and you’re kind of a good teacher, you know, because it’s a bad and good with the client, right. Because we’re going to people’s homes, just being polite and being a nice guest, all of that. So I’ve met dog trainers that are, are good with dogs, but not so good with people. So I’d rather if, if it’s somebody who just loves dogs and really wants to see them grow, we’ll teach you. And so that’s what we’ve done with, with one of our trainers and she’s turned out to be fantastic. You know, she’s a, a by training, special needs teacher. And so having her on board it’s nice diversity. Right. so, she can address some different issues that, that maybe ed and I can’t, and she totally got into quickly how to train because she’s she was a teacher.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Yeah. That’s
Betsy Erb:
Great. Nice max. Yeah. Our only requirement for trainers is that you have a dog. Right. Because you got to practice all this on your
The Wolf of Franchises:
Own. Oh yeah. Yeah.
Betsy Erb:
So you can’t just walk in and be like, I love dogs. I want to train, you know, and then just like, oh, okay, great. But because it takes practice and dedication and all that. So that’s our only kind of show stopper.
The Wolf of Franchises:
That’s interesting though. I could see that being a like you said, a good mix finding teachers to also train dogs. Is that person still like dog training leads the full-time job now? Or is she still teaching?
Betsy Erb:
Yep. She’s full time now. And you know, she’s, she’s super driven and wants to be our head trainer in the long run. So there are lots of really cool stories about, about folks that were clients that became trainers. You know, that’s something else, because they’ve gone through the process and they’re like, hey man, this is super awesome. Like I, I love this. I want to come work for you. So that, that hasn’t happened to us in Louisiana yet, but I think that’s a pretty popular model in the more, the longer standing DTE owners. So I’m recruiting one this weekend. <Laugh> but I trained your dog and I’m like you did so well. Yeah. How about part-time once a week. Come on. That’s great. So hopefully we can get her on board.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Yeah. Hell yeah. So what year specifically again, did you sign on to both brands? 2020?
Betsy Erb:
I think it was 20, 21. Right. I mean when I met you 2021. Yeah.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Okay. So you joined both these brands, 21, but pet will clinic and dog training elite very different as far as like the maturity level of the system. And so for folks who don’t know, dog training elite was founded in 1995, pet will clinic like 2010, 2011. I believe so that, and also pet clinic just started franchising in 2020, whereas dog training elite was franchising since 2015. So bit of a head start in the franchising and obviously had a lot more time with the corporate entity. So what was that like kind of seeing the differences between the systems and even like the number of franchisees in each system, you know, how did you kind of balance that out and just still decide ultimately that both were, you know, you were compelled enough to buy into both.
Betsy Erb:
So you characterized it perfectly. Another appeal was that they were in different stages of their development because there’s some attractiveness just from the, if you’re an entrepreneur you want to get in on something early and watch it grow a dog training lead to us was, I don’t want to say an easy win, but their model was so good once you see the dogs, you’re just like, yes, yes, I want to do this. I want to be able to train my dog. I want to help other people. But it’s been interesting to watch because you know, they are growing so fast that they’re dealing with some of the same things that pet well is dealing with. Right. Even though they’re in different stages of their franchise development, they’re growing so fast that they’re trying to manage the uptake and the new clients and franchisees and how do we set processes and da, da da the same sort of things that pet well is, is dealing with.
Betsy Erb:
So it’s interesting to watch that the key easy difference is this is a, the pet, well, I’m sorry. The DTE is a proven model. You know what you’re getting, you know, what you need to do versus pet. Well, it’s a little bit, we’re kind of going through the system and, and what kind of products are we going to carry? Getting the vets, it’s yeah. It’s different. It, the proven model is kind of, like I said to, to us, it was sort of an easy win because we love dogs. We love people pet well, risk, riskier, right? I mean, I we’re doing it. We’re all in, but it, you know, we’ll see, you know, so yeah.
The Wolf of Franchises:
<Laugh>
Betsy Erb:
Hopefully at least I’m a good dog trainer. <Laugh> worst comes to worst. I’ll just go train some dogs.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Out’s it’s a good hedge. So pet wall clinic, it is a walk-in veterinarian clinic. Basically. I know it’s not a perfect analogy, but just for folks listening similar to the way urgent care operates for humans. And from what I remember, so folks, I used to work with this brand in some capacity, but it doesn’t do things. You, you can’t go there for an x-ray or an MRI for a dog or a cat. It it’s really like basic checkups. And am I missing? What other services am I missing there?
Betsy Erb:
No, you got it. I mean, it’s preventative care. So it’s wellness for your dog. Big focus of course in Louisiana is heartworm, you know, heartworm medication, heartworm preventatives. But like you said, no, x-rays no surgeries, no euthanasia, no boarding. So that, it’s a, like you said, perfect analogy, urgent care. Lots of, if you come in with something that your dog or cat is very sick, obviously we would be referring you to
The Wolf of Franchises:
Somebody else. Yeah. The, the goal is though, I guess if you have a minor issue, right? If your dog or cat like throws up on a Friday afternoon, you don’t need to book a time with a vet and wait either six hours or probably, I mean, if you’re booking time with the vet, it’s probably weeks out right. You can just walk right into pet well clinic and you should be in and out 30 to 45 minutes or something like that.
Betsy Erb:
Yeah. Max. Yeah. Max, that would be, you know, if it, if it’s something like you, that scenario is the perfect pet, well clinic scenario, my, my dog or cat has is vomiting or whatever. And it’s Friday at five o’clock. Well, all the other clinics in the area are probably closed, were open. So, you would come in, you’d be out of there in 20 minutes at a very cost effective or, or a low, I don’t want to call it low cost, but it’s, it’s completely reasonable cost cheaper than your, your normal vet hospital. And you’d be on your way and out to go for Friday night dinner and you know, your pet’s taken care of, so you can go out and have fun with your friends or whatever.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Yeah. That model, I mean, it makes so much sense. Right. And like I know from my family’s dog in, in New Jersey, that anytime you book really any service of the vet, whether it’s boarding a haircut veterinarian services, like it’s, it was like a month out in advance last time we, we had to do it. So yeah, it it’s, there’s a lot of pets out there <laugh> and it doesn’t seem like the businesses have caught up. So, you know, I, I can see why that model should exist at scale. And I’d imagine right for you, that’s part of this vision that you’re, you want to get in on the ground floor of that brand that, you know, who knows it could be. I mean, what was the vision that was pitched to you? Like, I, I can, we could probably see that as a national brand someday, right? If urgent care exists for humans, why not for pets?
Betsy Erb:
Exactly. I mean, it’s got, it’s got to me, obviously the long-term financial appeal it’s attractive because it’s entrepreneurial. We’re able to help a lot of people like, you know, for us in Louisiana, it’s a, it’s varying degrees of financial staff, I guess, like everywhere, but because we, we want to treat and help everybody. Right. So if you come in, it’s a lower cost solution. So there’s an appeal in this area that, you know, maybe folks that can’t go to a traditional veterinary hospital, they can get a much more price, a better price point with us. Yeah. So there’s, there’s that element. And so there’s like, I was mentioning there’s the entrepreneurial side, there’s the helping the community side. And frankly, the, the, the team at pet well really sold it for us. As far as similar values, similar objectives, we did talk about national brand, but at the end of the day, I, I just want to help our help, Louisiana to begin with and Salt Lake City is as a side note.
Betsy Erb:
So the salt lake city thing, I know you haven’t asked this question, but it’s pretty interesting because we were out there for dog training. Right. So remember I was mentioning for the dog training elite stuff, we go, go out there, train your dog. So we’re out there. And one of our dogs gets sick, right? Just exactly the scenario. Describe diarrhea, vomiting. She’s a puppy. So I’m like, mm. And we’re working all day at this training. So I don’t have time. So, we call, you know, some traditional hospitals, we call Banfield, which is pet smarts hospital. So this is February and they’re quoting me April. And I’m like, what are you talking about? Like my dog just says,
The Wolf of Franchises:
Wow,
Betsy Erb:
What? And they said, yep. The way it works in salt lake is you just go to one of the emergency hospitals and they only had three. So we drive over, you know, got the pups in the car, show up at five 30 and they’re like, okay, so you have to wait in line. You’ve checked in. And there are, you know, obviously real emergencies going on, but other people like us in line. And they said, okay, it’s going to be nine to 10 hours late. Oh
The Wolf of Franchises:
My.
Betsy Erb:
And you can’t leave the parking lot. Yeah. You can’t leave the parking lot. So, and you can’t leave your car and we’ll come get you. So, we got there at like 5, 5, 5 30, and ed had to actually, because he took it, he, so he stayed there with, with our dog and got seen at about three 30 in the morning or for a yeah. Yeah. It was insane. And then he had to, so he took off the next day from training, you know, he is like, I’m not going to, I’m not going to dog training. And it was the next day was a Saturday. So he didn’t miss that much. But so yeah, so he stayed up all night with the dog, turns out, you know, just an upper GI issue, got some Metro, you know, some basically anti reels for dogs. And off we went, but it was expensive and it was ridiculous. So while I was there, I, I texted the pet, well, CEO, I’m like, Hey, if salt lake city is open, I want it because they need. Yeah. And so that’s how that happened.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Organic. That is proof of concept experience there. Holy crap.
Betsy Erb:
Yeah, exactly. I mean, it was ridiculous, but it would’ve been like, whoa, damn,
The Wolf of Franchises:
That’s insane. I mean, so that is like, honestly, the, the best like story possible for pet clinic, right. To like, for them to want to sell, like what problem they’re solving for, which is basically, you know, your husband ed had to wait in a waiting room for almost 10 hours.
Betsy Erb:
No, in his car, he wasn’t even allowed to go in room in his car. He had to sit in his car for that
The Wolf of Franchises:
Long while the dogs, you know, got the diarrhea issues. But ultimately right. He waited 10 hours for what if of the human equivalent would’ve been like an over the counter medication that you can get at CVS or something like that. Absolutely. Yeah. So, I think for people listening, that’s the like an important takeaway to understand, you know, a lot of people have heard pet industry is booming. Everyone’s buying pets, but the services have yet to catch up clearly because right. For if, if you think about human healthcare, like that would be ridiculous to have to wait 10 hours at the emergency room for, what’s just a minor intestinal issue, but for dogs and cats, right. That’s where it’s at right now is there’s no other option and pet will clinic is trying to fill that gap. It sounds like
Betsy Erb:
Exactly. That’s a perfect way to, to describe it and to kind of close on that story. Our, when we checked out it was $350, you know, <laugh>, I mean, I’m like, wow, for basically an exam and Imodium, you know what I mean? Yeah. So it’s like,
The Wolf of Franchises:
Holy crap. I mean 10 hours. I don’t know if I could have done that. That’s, that’s tough.
Betsy Erb:
I, God bless and is a tough guy’s
The Wolf of Franchises:
I’m like, that’s a trooper. <Laugh>
Betsy Erb:
Love you. I’m going to sleep. <Laugh> we have another dog that needs to be taken care of. I’m going to take care of him. Totally. A true test of our marriage, but he, he definitely, he handled it. So, yeah.
The Wolf of Franchises:
All right. So, so you guys now own salt lake city as that? What? Like the territory? Yep. Incredible. Mm-hmm <affirmative> I love it. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> that’s, that’s super exciting.
Betsy Erb:
Yeah. And, and, you know, the interesting thing is and you can appreciate it. It depends on where you are geographically. We are, although started on our clin our, so we have, we’re about to open our first one in Baton Rouge. We’ve been working on our first one in the new Orleans area for eight months. And we’re still like, arguing about the lease we’ve already in salt lake, found the place, got the LOI. And we started months later, we started in March, April. Yeah. So, it’s been a lot more aggressive, which, you know, I think the bang for the buck, we’re going to get it there. So it it’s been amazing to see the two territories and how, how folks operate with desire and getting it done.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s fantastic. So at scale with your current territories, you own for dog training elite and pet will clinic, let’s say you fully develop them. How many I know since dog training lead doesn’t necessarily right. Have brick and mortar, but like how many territories for DTE would you have and then how many physical locations of pet will clinic would you have once fully developed?
Betsy Erb:
So what we have right now, so I’ll start with DTE. You know, we would probably build two facilities, one in new Orleans, one in Baton Rouge kind of, for those more advanced, there, there are opportunities to do basically what they call elite training camp. So you can bring your, your dog in for the day while you go to work, but there’s no board, right. So, but we work on your dog while you’re there. And then there was all the stuff I was mentioning earlier about service dog training. So the facility, for example, has like, you know, the handicap buttons, you know, that you, you pushed to go into a door, we train your dog, how to do that light switches. That’s incredible, you know, kind of the PSA, you know, we have a setup for TSA. Yeah. Cause if you’re going to just a service dog going in the airplane, so we train all that.
Betsy Erb:
So that’s what our facility sort of looks like. You know, if you can kind of picture that. So, we would have one in Baton Rouge, one in New Orleans and then for pet well clinic, we’re going to have eight, eight in Louisiana, 12 in Salt Lake City. So 20 total with our fir current agreements. But, you know, I, I think there’s an opportunity to help folks move into, you know, Mississippi, Alabama, kind of the, some of the other areas that are similar to Louisiana. So that’s our longer term goal to start moving, you know, that’s a 10 vision, right. Moving into those territories and, and helping the folks in, in those areas. So I don’t know that we’ll get more territory with Dr. Train elite, but I don’t, I don’t know that we want it. Right. Because we like kind of what we have right now.
The Wolf of Franchises:
I love the ambition. That’s incredible. I mean, even just now, before expanding beyond, right. That’s 20 pet wall clinics and two, you know, territories with DTE that are in very good markets. So that would be a hell of a business. Betsy <laugh>
Betsy Erb:
Man, come on the ride, let’s go. You know, we were both in the military and we have this term, you know, actually ed and I were both pilots. I don’t know if you
The Wolf of Franchises:
Remember that. Oh, okay.
Betsy Erb:
But so he was an army pilot. I was an air force pilot. So we have this term that we, we say fire for effect. So that’s basically how we live our lives. We’re like, listen, we’re going, we’re going all in for a poker. I love it. You know, analogy. It’s fire fact, baby. We got to, we got to have
The Wolf of Franchises:
A lot of people. Hell yeah. That’s sick. That’s awesome.
Betsy Erb:
Yeah. That’s
The Wolf of Franchises:
Cool. Yeah. Yeah. So looking for, well, I guess how I do, I’m curious too, like when you’re hiring, you know, hiring in my mind, at least you’re selling someone on why they should join you and your company. So when you’re selling, you know, your, your hires, are you selling the portfolio? Meaning like, Hey, I’m building this multi-faceted pet holding company that it provides room for upward mobility, possibly different roles that, you know, you wouldn’t expect. So, you know, maybe you’re on dog training elite now, but who knows, maybe there’s an opportunity across pet mall clinic down the road. Is, is that the strategy or is it, or is it kind of divided for now and you’re keeping those the whole brand separate.
Betsy Erb:
So, to answer your first question, I, yes, I sell it as far because I do, I believe in what we’re doing and, and example, you know, our veterinarian, our first veterinarian in Baton Rouge, I think that just the appeal of the medicine and, and the desire because you know, she’s 30 or to have other options, you know, going forward as far as director of medicine jobs and things like that has its appeal. So, so yes, I, to, to answer a question that that’s my approach. I, I, and plus I want folks to know that we’re going to manage you, but you, you need to be an adult and manage yourself, right? Yeah. You’re going to have that ability to, I’m not going to micromanage you. I can’t. And the crossover, you know, one, one of the folks that we, that has helped, well, let me back.
Betsy Erb:
So, so that’s the example, the challenge in the crossover is that that pet clinic is very technical. Yeah. Right. You, you’re a vet assistant, you’re a veterinarian probably not going to want to roll over and, and train dogs, but there is an opportunity for folks who can train dogs to be very good at their trade. Yeah. You know, and, and move up. So, I talk about what we’re doing, what ed and I are doing in total like our operations manager for Salt Lake City you know, what does she want to do long term? Does she want to end up being the overall operations manager and how, how do we do that and incorporate dog training lead. So not, not, that was a kind of a long-winded answer. I’m sorry, but not, not as like, not specifically, but we try to
The Wolf of Franchises:
Leverage both. I hear yeah. When it, when there’s the opportunity, it sounds like you, you can create that benefit. But I, I gotcha. Like obviously pet clinic, right. For, especially like veterinarians that you need to license or else that’s kind of its <laugh> so yeah.
Betsy Erb:
Right, right. But there is, I mean, that’s a, you make a great point, right? Like if there’s a veterinarian assistant, who’s burned out, but still loves pets. Yeah. Do you want to be a dog tr right? Or do you a couple days a week, you want to do that where, you know, so that,
The Wolf of Franchises:
Yeah. I could actually see both, both sides of it. You know, maybe someone from who’s training dogs decides actually, you know what, I’d really rather like help pets when they’re, you know, having their issues. And then the flip side is what you just said, where someone gets burnt out from taking care of the pets and administering shots and vaccines and everything. And maybe they’re like, you know what? This is, this is a little too intense <laugh> so let’s go to training, but that’s, that’ll be cool to see how, how that develops.
Betsy Erb:
Yeah. That was a good question. Cause now you’re to think about it.
The Wolf of Franchises:
All right. So I guess my last question is just like, I know you mentioned your 10 year plan and maybe you haven’t thought about this, but I like to ask the big questions. Do you guys see yourselves building beyond pet will clinic and do training elite? Like, is there any master plan to build just like, like bring in other pet brands and like, like cover every facet of the pet industry.
Betsy Erb:
Yeah. So what we were going through the absolutely. You know I don’t know if you remember, but I used to be a yes. Corporate executive, so that’s kind of the way I think. And that was what I really enjoyed about being in those roles, but yes, absolutely. So, we want to build basically the, the dog empire, right. So the other, the other, the dog and cat, I don’t mean to exclude cats. I just
The Wolf of Franchises:
Dog’s easier
Betsy Erb:
For me. <Laugh> so, you know, we, it would be the combination of a doggie daycare, a PA. So bring your dog in for the day, bring your dog to get training, bring your dog for healthcare. And then the other, like kind of my, my thing is, you know, would be really cool is with all of that, to also have a, you know, a place like a par like, you know, one of those places where you have dogs that can go out and play and it’s
The Wolf of Franchises:
Also yeah, yeah, yeah.
Betsy Erb:
That would be like a fun one, you know, that would, that would just be cool to be like, okay, well we’ve got this indoor park in Louisiana. You can sit outside, your dog’s going to be inside, you run around and you can enjoy, you know, watching LSU play
The Wolf of Franchises:
Football. Yeah. Yeah.
Betsy Erb:
Hell yeah. So that’s kind of the, you know, ed, doesn’t, he, I don’t know. I mean, he’s, he’s behind it,
The Wolf of Franchises:
But I’m going for it. Fire. Perfect. Hell yeah,
Betsy Erb:
Absolutely. Man. Now you got it. So that’s the vision, right. Kind of the dog empire, I think is a way to put it cause you get to help the most people. Right?
The Wolf of Franchises:
Yeah. And I mean, I think just as it grows, the, the efficiencies of like your operations should get better and better. And I, I really think too, the ability to cross sell between the systems can just be awesome, like, right. Like all the dog training elite clients can know that you’re, especially if they’re getting a great experience, they’re going to naturally trust like, oh, you own the pet clinic. Like, yeah, I’ll go there every time. My pet has a little issue and that’s even on top of the fact that they’d probably enjoy it anyway, regardless, just because of how long they have to wait in vets in emergency rooms, like you mentioned. So I’m super excited to, to see what you’re building. Cause I think I think you guys are going to kill it. <Laugh>
Betsy Erb:
Yeah. You, that’s awesome. <Laugh> I’m hoping so like you know and it’s super, you know, the other cool thing. I know that was your last question, but you to ask to kind of add that across the two companies that, you know, if I were doing it again, would I do the same thing? The answer is yes. And the re both are family oriented. Right. D right now PE is run by a family pet, well, clinic is run by a family. I really like that. Right. That, you know, everybody’s kind of counting on everybody for success. Yeah. So, and creating that environment where you can have trust and it’s not just random corporate executives like me coming in to run it. Right. It’s actually people that have grown up together doing it, understand the business. So hopefully we’re trying to create that same sort of family community for, for both of our territories. Right. That, you know, when you work for us, you know, we don’t have you work for us. You come to work here at our house. Right. Because we don’t, we don’t have an office base right now, but you know, creating that trust and environment of, you know, happiness is real big for us. So that super, super supportive of that yeah.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Approach. Definitely that that’s fantastic. Well, look, this has been a super awesome conversation. It was really cool learning more about both brands and what you’re planning to do if listeners want to follow along, you know, is there any spot like LinkedIn or Twitter or something where people can watch your journey?
Betsy Erb:
Yeah. So you know, we’re, we’re dog train south, a dog training elite Southeast Louisiana, both on Facebook and Insta. And we’ve got the we’re getting set up with pet well, but the dog training elite stuff is always updated with the pictures and, you know, so I would love for people to get locked into that because it’s, it’s just fun. Yeah. Yeah. And I’m [email protected]. So that’s kind of our first step and doing stuff like this and chatting with folks that support us really makes a difference. So really appreciate you, you having us on and chatting with me this morning, it’s been
The Wolf of Franchises:
Great. Yeah. This was a lot of fun, Betsy. We’ll, we’ll plug those resources in the show notes for folks so they can follow along dog training elite, south Louisiana. That’ll be cool on Instagram, but yeah, look, it was great to reconnect and we’ll talk soon. Okay. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening to franchise empires. We’re coming to you soon with actionable insights to take the next step on your franchise journey. So make sure to subscribe on apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen.