Time & Lifestyle Questions:

Q: "How many hours a week do you spend on your business?"

Timestamp: 08:06 Katie's Business Insights

Katie's Answer: "I probably spend about two to three hours a day in my Zoom and grooming business. As a background, I sell real estate as my full-time part-time job. It pays the bills, but doesn't take me 40 hours a week. So this is my second full-time, part-time job."

Q: "Is it possible to hire someone to answer calls if you don't have 2-3 hours a day to dedicate?"

Timestamp: 10:54 Operational Details and Challenges

Katie's Answer: "Yes, and I did. I had somebody, a friend of mine, she was a stay at home mom that wanted a few hours and then she saw the money we were bringing in. So she's actually now a franchisee. So I've lost her and I'm trying to find somebody else to handle my calls for me."

Q: "Do you normally work on weekends?"

Timestamp: 10:54 Operational Details and Challenges

Katie's Answer: "I don't normally work on the weekends unless my groomers need me, but I won't answer incoming calls or anything. I'll save that for Monday morning. But that's, I wouldn't recommend doing that, especially when you're first getting started."

Financial Performance Questions:

Q: "What's the profit margin per van?"

Timestamp: 26:13 Financial Aspects and Profit Margins

Katie's Answer: "So we are making between five and 6,000 per week per van, and we're closer to like 40% right now."

Q: "How long did it take to get return on investment?"

Timestamp: 26:13 Financial Aspects and Profit Margins

Katie's Answer: "So I keep putting my money back into and keep buying vans. But I mean, we were cashflow positive right away, but again, I didn't have a lease payment as well, so I paid cash for mine. But the first month I had a positive cash flow."

Q: "About how much does a bulk order cost?"

Timestamp: 26:13 Financial Aspects and Profit Margins

Katie's Answer: "Now way more, 'cause I'm buying way more, but I think I spent probably like 400 bucks on shampoos and towels and stuff. We have a whole list of shampoos that are recommended. Call it our startup kit, so that we go over in training."

Q: "About how much a month in maintenance would you estimate?"

Timestamp: 23:21 Discussing Car Leasing and Maintenance Costs

Katie's Answer: "So, I mean, not much. I mean oil for the generator. I mean that can of oil is probably 15 bucks. For a little can of oil for the generator. I mean, you're not changing the oil on the van every month. That's probably every couple of months. It's nice because if you're in a smaller territory, you're really not driving the van that much, so you're not putting very many miles on your van."

Operational Reality Questions:

Q: "What was your biggest surprise in the first 12 months?"

Timestamp: 10:54 Operational Details and Challenges

Katie's Answer: "I mean, so for me, I don't know if it's biggest surprise, but I always tell people like, my hardest challenge was I've never managed anybody before. So I've always either worked for myself or when I had a corporate job for two years. I mean, I've just, it was admin work. So leading a team. And then I still, I mean, I'm 31 now. The girls that work for me range from like 25 to, I don't know, 30. So having that fine line of like, they wanna be my friend, but also I'm their boss."

Q: "How difficult was it to find a groomer?"

Timestamp: 10:54 Operational Details and Challenges

Katie's Answer: "So everybody, of course, we have hundreds of vans that are out running right now, and everybody has groomers throughout the country, but it's probably, you're not gonna hire somebody the next day, you're just, it's, that's not realistic. If you're in an area where there's another zoom and grooming that you probably might hire somebody a little bit quicker because groomers know each other, which is nice. But I would say within like two to three weeks probably for a realistic timeframe."

Q: "What's the turnover like for groomers?"

Timestamp: 10:54 Operational Details and Challenges

Katie's Answer: "If they're a good groomer, they probably will stay with you. Most of my groomers have been with me for two years now. My first original groomers we're in a big military area in Virginia Beach, so my groomers' husbands, they were all military, so they've been stationed elsewhere and then one had a baby, so that's why they left. But pretty much everybody else that I've hired, they've been with me since I've hired them."

Q: "What's the most common thing that goes wrong with the vans?"

Timestamp: 19:18 Marketing and Growth Strategies

Katie's Answer: "I would say a grooming arm breaks, but big dogs, they pull on 'em. That's not really the van. My groomers have run over a couple of potholes and gotten a flat tire, so that's fun to go change. I mean, really just the upkeep on them. So like the generators, making sure the oil's changed every, I think we're supposed to change every two to three weeks. Sometimes we forget and then they go bad. So we have to take it to the shop."

Business Model Questions:

Q: "How many bookings do you do per van per day?"

Timestamp: 10:54 Operational Details and Challenges

Katie's Answer: "Normally between six to eight, again, depending on the dogs that we do. If we have more baths, sometimes it's closer to 10. Per van of course."

Q: "What kind of pay structure do you have for groomers?"

Timestamp: 35:30 Scheduling and Managing Groomers

Katie's Answer: "So they're commission only. They are W2, but they're commission only. So we have a mobile fee of $30 that gets taken off per pet. And then the rest is split 50 50 with the groomer. So if it's $130, I take $30 off, that goes into my pocket. And then the 50 50 is split between the groomer and myself, and then they get a hundred percent of their tip."

Q: "How do you guys receive money?"

Timestamp: 29:56 Handling Payments and Fees

Katie's Answer: "I think most people use, so we have, I personally accept cash check or card, and with card, our booking system has a card reader with it. So, they pay and then you get paid the next day from them. You can choose to do Venmo. For me, it was just too hard to keep track of. So for me, the cash checker card is the easiest. And then with the credit card, I would highly suggest I used to pay the credit card fees. I now have our customers pay them because that will just eat your profit up."

Growth & Expansion Questions:

Q: "Does having four vans expand your territory or is it just in one territory?"

Timestamp: 10:54 Operational Details and Challenges

Katie's Answer: "Yes. And there's area of the territory, so I'm in the Virginia Beach market. And then there are a couple other franchisees that also have three to four vans. I know Josh in Ohio is getting his fourth one built out right now. There's a couple people that I keep saying whoever gets their fourth, I'm just gonna have to get the fifth because I'd like to be number one."

Q: "If you want to expand more, how does that work?"

Timestamp: 41:43 Expanding and Maintaining the Business

Katie's Answer: "I mean, you can get your territory wherever you want. I think a neighboring territory that touches probably makes the most sense. I will say, I mean, there are a couple people that live a little further from their territory, but it just, I think it makes it a little harder 'cause you're having to drive that extra distance and time to get to the van."

Q: "What are some advantages of working under the loyalty brand umbrella?"

Timestamp: 39:55 Advantages of the Loyalty Brand

Katie's Answer: "Well, my favorite is the pay. So for payroll, there's a payroll company. They do not charge a setup fee, and I pay them $75 per pay period. So every two weeks. And they take care of the payroll, the taxes, all that good stuff, which is nice. If anything goes wrong, it's on them, not me. I know we have a tax office in our area, so we did an event with them. We did photos with Santa, so we partnered with them."

Competition & Market Questions:

Q: "Is there a lot of competition from other franchises in your area?"

Timestamp: 10:54 Operational Details and Challenges

Katie's Answer: "No, because you're in a protected territory, so no other zooming grooming can come into the territory that you buy. Now you probably all have Mom and pops in your area. Obviously we can't stop them from coming in, but I think it's good when you have mom and pops because then people in the area already know what mobile grooming is and they're going to expect higher prices."

Q: "Do you see any differentiator that you've noticed over the last three years?"

Timestamp: 19:18 Marketing and Growth Strategies

Katie's Answer: "Yeah, there's two. So two big ones is one, for myself, being the owner and being able to run the van seven days a week. Most mom and pops, it's the person that owns it is the groomer and they might have one other person that works for them, so they're not working seven days a week. And then the other one is a lot of the mom and pops will not do big dogs. So we have a big table and a big tub that, again, we do great Danes, we do great Pyrenees. We have not met a dog that we have not been able to fit in the van comfortably."

Practical Operations Questions:

Q: "How do you deal with water for the vans and dumping?"

Timestamp: 25:07 Managing Grooming Vans and Supplies

Katie's Answer: "So we have a storage unit. It's like a warehouse one, so I can fit all my vans. I have two of them inside, which is really nice. My storage unit, we have water access, so we can hook up and fill the water right there. With the gray water, so the dirty water, we actually just leave that open, because we are really not using that much water. So it just drains out onto the person's driveway and into the sewer. 'Cause what goes out is pet hair and our soaps are eco-friendly, so they're not gonna harm the environment."

Q: "Do you let groomers take the vans home?"

Timestamp: 29:56 Handling Payments and Fees

Katie's Answer: "I do. Sometimes they have dogs that they wanna do like their own dogs, and that's totally fine. I trust my groomers. They know that they will get fired if I find out they've used the van. One of my groomers, they live, they only have one car, so she works for me Wednesday, Thursday. So she takes it home on Wednesday night and when she's done at the end of the day, Thursday, she brings it back. The only time I don't let them is if we have below freezing temperatures, 'cause I don't wanna have to worry about anything freezing in the van."

Q: "Do you have the groomers clean the van at the end of the day?"

Timestamp: 41:43 Expanding and Maintaining the Business

Katie's Answer: "Yeah, we have the groomers so they clean a little bit between each groom, so vacuum up the bulk of the hair and then wipe down and sanitize like the tub and the table. And then at the end of the day, they're responsible for doing a deep clean and getting that van clean. I have hired a cleaning service every couple months to come in and really deep clean the van because they don't always do the best job."

Additional Cost Questions:

Q: "What are some of the other fees you're gonna have each month?"

Timestamp: 29:56 Handling Payments and Fees

Katie's Answer: "So for me, my storage fee is my biggest one. Again, mine are like warehouses. So I pay $850 for each of them. Other people pay like $150 bucks because they have just a parking spot in a little five by five unit. My phone bill. What else do I pay? I mean, yeah, insurance. We have auto for the van and then business liability and workman's comp. For one van, I know I paid about $2,500 for all three of those. So the auto business liability and workman's comp."

Q: "Are you leasing your vans?"

Timestamp: 23:21 Discussing Car Leasing and Maintenance Costs

Katie's Answer: "No, that's fine. I did pay for mine. A lot of people do lease them. I just, I've never leased a car and I had the cash to do it, so I was like, I'll just buy it."