Become a Franchisee
Paws to consider your future - Read more...
Become a Franchisee
Paws to consider your future….
Barking Mad is a dynamic, challenging and rewarding home based business in the fast growing pet care sector.
Being a Barking Mad Franchisee is all about setting up, developing and managing a successful business whilst improving your lifestyle.
When it comes to supporting franchisees, this is the area in which we excel. We have over 60 branches successfully operating across the UK , who all agree it’s a great way to make a living!
Success Stories
If you’re looking for a complete lifestyle change, this is how you do it - Read more...
Success Stories
Is Barking Mad right for me?
Everyone’s personal circumstances are different, and you will see from the case studies that there are a number of different approaches to running this business.
It does require your full time commitment, although equally Barking Mad provides flexibility and the ability to manage your own time.
We hope you enjoy reading our success stories and that they will encourage you to believe in yourself and do something you’ll really enjoy!
Investment
THE PROSPECTIVE REWARDS
Rather than set out theoretical projections, in line with best franchising practice we prefer to relate to actual track record and we will discuss this with you at our initial meeting.
In pursuing your interest in becoming a Barking Mad Franchisee, we will make available to you in confidence further detailed financial information, based on up-to-date trading performance, to assist with your business plan.
You also need a suitable silver vehicle, a personal computer dedicated for business use and basic equipment for your office-at-home. You should also consider provision for working capital, according to your circumstances - please discuss this aspect with us.
Veronica & Laura Young Case Study
I was relaxing on a flight to Cyprus, reading the in flight magazine, when I came across an article about Barking Mad. It was 2004 and I thought it was a great idea for a business. I even commented at the time “I could do that”. I had a dog called Crystal and I had just driven her 300 miles from Derby to Glasgow to stay with my friend as I would not put her in a kennel, and I had nobody in Derby to leave her with as we had re-located and had no family nearby.
Five years passed and it was 2009, I was in a job that I was becoming more and more disillusioned with and my daughter Laura had just graduated from University and was looking for a job. We were talking about her future and I said it was a pity we couldn’t find something that we could both do as she had skills I don’t have and vice versa. I suggested a franchise as it is the slightly less scary self employed option. I then remembered the article about Barking Mad and it seemed to tick all the boxes. We made some tentative enquiries and the more we heard the more enthusiastic we got. We arranged a visit to the head office in the Lake District to discuss matters further. The meeting was in the form of an informal chat with managing director Lee telling us more about the concept and asking us about our lives, interests etc. Lee was very forthright in her approach and supplied us with facts and figures. I came away from that interview reeling with the amount of information I had been given and with feelings of excitement and abject terror! I ha been complaining for some time about how unfulfilled I felt in my current job and here was a feasible alternative. I had a decision to make and it was not an easy one. Could I give up the security of my job and take this on? Laura had been offered a temporary job for six months and we decided she should take it and join me later if I went ahead. After much thought and soul searching I decided that Barking Mad would play a part in my future. A few weeks later I new I had made the right decision as I was offered early retirement from my job. At the age of 52 I was about to start a new career.
It was agreed that I would do my training at the end of January 2010 and start operating on the 1st of February. I “retired” in late November 2009 and began preparing for my new adventure. Head office were very supportive and always on hand to give advice about everything from car purchase to the set up of my office. I was never made to feel that any of my questions, no matter how trivial, were unimportant.
I went on the training course in January 2010 and it was very informative and was even fun at times. You are given a lot of information to get your business started and it is presented in a logical easy to understand format. You come home with a manual that is extremely helpful in the initial stages (having head office’s phone number on speed dial is another good tip!)
The early days were a mix of learning skills e.g. marketing the business and learning procedures (Barking Mad have procedures for everything) and sitting willing the phone to ring and being terrified when it did. I gradually grew in confidence with each new customer and although I initially had problems getting Host Families on board, things gradually improved. The days are never the same and because of that it is never boring. You never know what you will have to deal with. Sometimes it is a host saying they can’t have a dog at the agreed time and you have to completely reschedule your day to accommodate them, or it could be a new customer interview. Learning how differently we all care for our dogs has been a revelation.
I have now been operating for nine months. The learning curve has been steep but I have met some lovely people and their dogs along the way. I have had great satisfaction in taking a happy dog home at the end of the holiday. I had a lovely customer who faced a hip replacement operation and she was so worried about what she was going to do with her golden Labrador Buster while she was in hospital and recovering. Buster is 2 years old but has the added complication of being completely deaf from birth. I was able to provide the solution. His owner has told me that the peace of mind Barking Mad gave her was instrumental in her recovery. Days like that make it all worthwhile.
Laura joined me in June 2010. I have really appreciated having her on board. It is great to have company in the office and somebody to discuss problems with. This can be a very absorbing job. The office is in your house and it can be difficult to switch off and managing work/life routine can be difficult during busy times. I did not expect it to be so demanding of my time. You have to be available to deal with a problem the host may have at any time, and although one person can do it, it is definitely a good thing to be able to share the load. Taking time off or a holiday is definitely easier with some back up.
Laura’s Story
A little over a year ago I was reading a magazine and came across a quote from a lady who appeared on the TV show The Apprentice, it said “never have a career plan. How can you take advantage of opportunities that come your way if they don’t fit into your plan?” At the time, this seemed slightly crazy to me as I sat and reflected on my education - I had studied my way through school, A-Levels and finally a degree but always with some career plan. What I wanted to do work wise changed quite frequently, but I decided in my 2nd year at university that I wanted to work in HR and this is what I set out to do. The day I graduated from Staffordshire University was one of the proudest days for me, it had been a lot of fun but also hard work and I felt ready to face the world of work. I graduated with a 2:1 BSc with Honours degree in Psychology and even managed to walk across the stage at graduation without falling over!
I never expected to feel quite as lost as I did in the months that followed. I sat at home, unemployed and in the midst of a recession with little hope of finding a job that was what I wanted to do. Graduate schemes had become almost impossible to get on to and there were few HR jobs anywhere. My mum and I had headed out on one of our fairly regular girly shopping days and were discussing my options for the future. Initially we had considered taking on Barking Mad for me to run with mum in the background as the thought of giving up her job filled her with terror – even though it made her pretty miserable! This was the initial plan, but then I was offered a fixed term contract with Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service working in the HR team. My mum and I are big believers that everything happens for a reason, and to this day I am adamant that I was offered that job to temporarily take me out of the picture and force my mum’s hand in making the leap of faith to leave her job. I knew that she wouldn’t be able to turn her back on Barking Mad just because I had been offered a job, we had done a lot of research into Barking Mad, running a franchise etc. by this point, and it was the perfect solution for her. I intended to join her when my contract with the Fire Service ended and that’s exactly what I did in June 2010. I had struggled to adjust to an office job and looking back now, I think that I just need a bit more variety in my surroundings on a day-to-day basis to keep me motivated. I absolutely love running Barking Mad, it is the most varied job I could ask for, along with being within my control of how and when I work. Coming back to the quote I mentioned, I now totally understand what this lady meant – I could never have predicted that this is what I would be doing and yet it has made me happy and I use my skills from my degree. It’s a good job my plan was never set in stone!
I agree with the comments my mum has made about the pro’s and con’s of running Barking Mad and it definitely helps that there is two of us. However, this is only the case because we have always been so close and got on so well and as it turns out we make a pretty good team. The wrong two people working together could create very different results. Additionally, some of the difficulties my mum has faced with work/life balance and her inability to switch off during evenings etc. I think are down to her character as I don’t have these issues! However, I experience other problems with being self employed, for example getting out of bed in the morning! Everyone is different, but the important thing is that you can work around all these things and be a successful franchisee.