Financial Advisor, Life Coach and Son Take On Franchising with Dog Training Elite

Diane VanWeelden, along with her husband John and their son Alex, are looking forward to opening their own Dog Training Elite* Franchise in Cincinnati, Ohio in January of 2024. Diane and John have an extensive background in business ownership, with Diane opening her own life coaching practice and John founding VanWeelden Financial Group, but their motivation for starting yet another business was their son’s passion for working with dogs and their desire to make service dogs and training more accessible to the people in their community. Alex grew up with a myriad of pets ranging from lizards to birds to turtles and spent a great deal of time caring for the animals on his grandparents farm, including pigs and goats. Understandably, he has always had a remarkable relationship with dogs. Now, he looks forward to being the lead dog trainer in his family’s new business. 

The grand opening event is expected to be well-attended and will take place at the Cincinnati Boat, Sport & Travel show at Duke Energy Center from January 19-28, with Dog Training Elite taking the main stage on January 27 to provide dog training guidance for boat and RV owners. 

1851 Franchise spoke with Diane VanWeelden to hear more about her journey into franchising and her plans for the future.

PROFILE QUESTIONS

1851 Franchise: Frame your personal story for us. What did you do before franchising, and how did you decide franchising made sense for you?

VanWeelden: I've worked in non-profit organizations, PR and Ad agencies, and marketing and communications in corporate settings. My husband, John, had a 10 year long career in medical sales management and then switched completely 25 years ago, becoming a financial advisor, and now we're a registered investment fiduciary. 

I spent the past 20 years or so providing mentoring and coaching, and I started a life coaching practice a couple of years ago. I meet with coaching clients one on one as well as design  retreats and facilitate groups. We have had a lot of varied experiences, but we just love owning and running businesses!

Now, my husband is a financial advisor and we have a retirement planning practice here in West Chester, Ohio called VanWeelden Financial Group. He's been helping people transition into retirement for the last 25 years. I'm the managing partner there. 

We've been looking into franchising for the last five years or so because we wanted to diversify, and  decided to move forward with Dog Training Elite. Our son, Alex, was our motivation to franchise with Dog Training Elite because this is his passion. I love dogs too, but he has always had a gift for working with and being around dogs, and he is going to be our lead dog trainer.

Alex recently graduated from college and, around the same time, we came across Dog Training Elite and decided this is what we all wanted to do. He has loads of experience working with animals and showing them at fairs. We are all looking forward to learning Dog Training Elite’s methods, but Alex will be the lead trainer, and John and I will be moreso running the business from the background. 

1851: What was your perception of franchising prior to becoming a franchisee, and what do you want people to know about franchising now that you are in it?

VanWeelden: I didn’t have a strong opinion about franchising before I looked into it. I thought of McDonald’s, Chick-fil-a or Pizza Hut, but I liked the idea of not reinventing the wheel. I love helping people start businesses and building the design, as that is something I have done a lot in the past, but at the same time, that is the nice thing about franchising; you don’t have to do all of that because the corporate team has already done it for you. Setting up the systems and starting the business can be very time consuming, but with Dog Training Elite, all the systems are in place so you can just plug and play. 

1851: What made you pick this brand? What excites you most about this company?

VanWeelden: Our whole family loves dogs, but it is definitely our son’s passion. We’ve seen what a difference they make in the lives of their owners, so to be able to participate in improving that relationship is really exciting and fun. What really drew us to Dog Training Elite is all the service dog preparation that they do. We are looking forward to making that impact in a community that needs it so desperately, and making the benefits of service dogs more accessible is really important to us. 

Dog Training Elite has been very supportive and informative. They provided us with a library of videos of franchise owners being interviewed, so we learned a lot from those. It was a great resource in helping us make our decision.

1851: What do you hope to achieve with your business? What are your plans for growth? 

VanWeelden: We have purchased multiple territories, so we are coming in with a lot of space. 

Cincinnati is where we're starting, but we also have Dayton and then northern Kentucky. It feels as though we're already expanding from the beginning and we look forward to continuing our growth. 

1851: What is the one thing about your story you want us to know?

VanWeelden: As a family, we have such a passion for dogs and a love of dogs’ relationships with their families. We truly want to improve that relationship for families. 

We've all expected far too little from our dogs, and when they’re bored, they act out. Many owners don't know what their dogs can do and how much they can really expect from them. 

1851: What advice do you have for other people thinking about becoming a franchise owner?

VanWeelden: It's really important that you're comfortable with the people that you are purchasing from. We pursued another franchise a couple of years ago, and the further we got into it, the more we realized we weren't really aligned with the franchisor and their goals. You need to know who you are working with because you will need to rely on them, and you will want to research the success of their existing locations, too. 

ABOUT DOG TRAINING ELITE

With more than four decades of experience in dog training, Dog Training Elite is one of the country’s leading obedience and specialized training franchises. Offering a comprehensive suite of customizable training programs, Dog Training Elite works with dogs and owners to meet any and all training needs, including therapy dog training and advanced service dog training for PTSD support, psychiatric support, mobility support, autism support, diabetic alert training and an array of other services. In addition to the wide breadth of services offered, Dog Training Elite differentiates itself from competitors through a uniquely human-focused approach to dog training, which focuses on helping owners and their families learn to effectively and consistently support their dog’s training needs. To learn more about franchising with the Franchise 500 Dog Training Elite, visit https://dogtrainingelite.com/franchise