Speaker 1: And we continue with our American Stories. And we've heard
Speaker 1: from Bob Huff before about how he and his bride,
Speaker 1: who were a nursing home and home healthcare business from
Speaker 1: six employees to fifteen hundred, and there were some terrific
Speaker 1: stories along the way. Go to our American Stories dot
Speaker 1: com to hear that and so many of the American
Speaker 1: dreamers stories we tell because it's such a fundamental part
Speaker 1: of this great country. Now we bring you Bob's latest
Speaker 1: venture from Sarasota, Florida.
Speaker 2: So Lenn and I sort of retired. We were like
Speaker 2: sixty five at that time and had been in a
Speaker 2: business for over thirty years and being an entrepreneur and
Speaker 2: being only sixty five years of age. I told my
Speaker 2: wife after about three months, I said, you know what,
Speaker 2: I want to do something else. I'm not done. I
Speaker 2: didn't know exactly what it was going to be yet.
Speaker 2: But in the middle of one night, and I was
Speaker 2: very guilty of waking up with ideas keeping a legal
Speaker 2: pad beside me, I woke up about three o'clock in
Speaker 2: the morning and I thought dogs. I was thinking about Brownie,
Speaker 2: who was a dog that I had gotten for my
Speaker 2: son after he graduated from college because he was lonely,
Speaker 2: he was looking for love in the wrong places, and
Speaker 2: he needed a dog, so I got Brownie for him.
Speaker 2: When I woke up one morning, I'd written down everything
Speaker 2: that I was thinking about. Yes, pet resorts, pet resorts, dogs,
Speaker 2: that's what I need to go into. So at that
Speaker 2: time I decided, well, I'm going to start looking and
Speaker 2: researching this right now. So that's exactly what I did. First,
Speaker 2: I thought, well, where do you begin? And then I thought, well,
Speaker 2: I need begin looking for software. So I researched software
Speaker 2: and found a company that I called, and the gentleman
Speaker 2: I talked to was very helpful, and he said, well,
Speaker 2: let me, you know, suggest to you that we have
Speaker 2: one of our instructors who also owns her own company
Speaker 2: and owns some other pet resorts. Let me give you
Speaker 2: her name. She can probably help you and consult with
Speaker 2: you during this process. So I called her up and
Speaker 2: talked to her. I said, I'd like to volunteer to
Speaker 2: come up and work at your facility so I can
Speaker 2: learn a little bit more about this industry. Would that
Speaker 2: be possible? She said, yes, Bob. Their name was Gretchen MEMBERG.
Speaker 2: That would be very possible. I'd like to have a volunteer.
Speaker 2: So I went up and I worked for a couple
Speaker 2: of weeks before her, learning about dog care training and
Speaker 2: the amazement of fifty dogs going home at one time
Speaker 2: in the morning between probably eight and ten am, and
Speaker 2: how the staff can handle all of that. I was
Speaker 2: looking for land in Sarasota and was able to find
Speaker 2: a property. There's an old bowl and alley. It was
Speaker 2: my first pet resort and that opened up ten years ago,
Speaker 2: and as I always do, I thought, this is sort
Speaker 2: of fun. I want to do it again. But I said,
Speaker 2: I'm not to the point where I can afford a
Speaker 2: big expansion, but what I can afford is maybe a
Speaker 2: pet salon that would be a feeder source for the
Speaker 2: company that I have. So I did. I opened a
Speaker 2: pet grooming salon along with a daycare area and had
Speaker 2: that for about five years. I thought, oh boy, I'm
Speaker 2: going to have to do some other things. Now, I'm
Speaker 2: going to have to open up another pet resort and
Speaker 2: located a trailer park. I had seventeen dilapidated trailers that
Speaker 2: had been closed for a number of years, and it
Speaker 2: also had about seven acres of property, and I thought, okay,
Speaker 2: this is it. This is by me. It was not zoned,
Speaker 2: so I had to go through the zoning property get
Speaker 2: that business going. I worked with an architect and developed
Speaker 2: a really state of the art resort, went through a
Speaker 2: couple of general managers. That took us about two and
Speaker 2: a half years to really get it proped ongoing, and
Speaker 2: then I thought, well, I want to buy another one.
Speaker 2: This is a lot of fun and I was able
Speaker 2: to get approval from the account. It took me another
Speaker 2: year and a half to get that project going. That
Speaker 2: we're going to use a walk up for other facilities
Speaker 2: that we're developing in the future. So to fast forward
Speaker 2: to my life now at seventy four and still going,
Speaker 2: I'm thinking, okay, I'm going to have to start thinking
Speaker 2: of transition. And so the best way to transition is
Speaker 2: to expand. And I say that because by expansion you
Speaker 2: can afford hire more management and expand your business. And
Speaker 2: so we are now in the process of moving forward
Speaker 2: with the development of two pet resorts per year for
Speaker 2: the next five years. As a goo that I have,
Speaker 2: I have a young man that's working with me that
Speaker 2: will be responsible for that development process. We have a
Speaker 2: relationship with Urges of America, which is an organization. It's
Speaker 2: a nonprofit organization has been around many many years, and
Speaker 2: this particular organization provides services, guidance, direction, counseling to returning
Speaker 2: citizens because primarily women who have been incarcerated for and
Speaker 2: are convicted felons. I met the executive director of that
Speaker 2: organization and have offered our services working with them to
Speaker 2: develop productive members of society from some of their programs
Speaker 2: that they have. And so we have been working very
Speaker 2: successfully for the past five years with employees who come
Speaker 2: from Bridges America. We don't ask our backgrounds. We want
Speaker 2: a new beginning for them because they have a special
Speaker 2: sense of what it means to not be loved and
Speaker 2: what it means to be loved. With no bars attached,
Speaker 2: we can forgive and forget and move on with our lives.
Speaker 2: We have a lady that was our very first pet
Speaker 2: pal that we had received from the program. This has
Speaker 2: been five or six years. Kim started with us. Don't
Speaker 2: know exactly what her background is, but she just wanted
Speaker 2: a job, wanted to be able to provide and live independently.
Speaker 2: She had completed the program. We brought her in. I
Speaker 2: was very hesitant to do the program and invite in
Speaker 2: convicted felons. What have blessing has been to the staff.
Speaker 2: Kim has provided so much encouragement and so much guidance
Speaker 2: to our young staff who have come in. She shares
Speaker 2: her story, she's not embarrassed with her story, and it's
Speaker 2: helped so many of our teenagers that we have hired
Speaker 2: to hear what Kim has done with her life and
Speaker 2: what her life has been like, which she shares with them,
Speaker 2: and she's very respected by the staff. Kim came with
Speaker 2: nothing whatsoever, got out of the program with nothing whatsoever,
Speaker 2: and through employment with us, she was finally able to
Speaker 2: get housing. However, she did not have transportation, and she
Speaker 2: had to walk through and a half miles one way
Speaker 2: to and from war and she was never late for work.
Speaker 2: And the staff realized this after she had been with
Speaker 2: us about seven or eight months, and they knew that
Speaker 2: she was walking. And for Christmas unbeknownst to anyone, they
Speaker 2: did this without my knowledge or any management knowledge whatsoever,
Speaker 2: but they all chipped in money for Christmas for Kim,
Speaker 2: and they bought our bicycle. It may not seem like much,
Speaker 2: but to Kim brought her to tears. And for our staff,
Speaker 2: it brought them to tears that they could do something
Speaker 2: for someone else and Kim could do something for them.
Speaker 2: So it's been a wonderful blessing. Kim has been promoted
Speaker 2: several times over the years and now she is a
Speaker 2: manager of our back area with providing full service care
Speaker 2: and guidance of direction to our staff and care to
Speaker 2: our pets, and she's done a wonderful job. So our
Speaker 2: philosophy has been that we want the do we want
Speaker 2: the dogs tails wagging and coming. And when I really
Speaker 2: think about it, I guess that's true with all the
Speaker 2: people and all the staff that we have working there.
Speaker 2: We want them to have pride. I want them to
Speaker 2: be happy when they come to the door in the
Speaker 2: morning and when they leave in the afternoon. And I
Speaker 2: think that with most of our staff we've been able
Speaker 2: to accomplish that. This as a driving force behind what
Speaker 2: we're doing to move forward in the future and see
Speaker 2: what the Lord has in plan for the future and
Speaker 2: what other organizations and what other opportunities are going to
Speaker 2: be available to each and every one of our family
Speaker 2: members who we have for staff and for each of
Speaker 2: the clients that we have coming through the doors. They
Speaker 2: know when they come through the doors. Their pets are
Speaker 2: always so excited to come in. I got on that
Speaker 2: jumped out the window to get into a daycare. They
Speaker 2: know that they're in a loving environment because you can
Speaker 2: feel it as soon as you have the door, you
Speaker 2: can feel it. We can feel it that the dogs
Speaker 2: feel it too, So we do have those tales whacking
Speaker 2: going and coming through our doors.
Speaker 1: And a great job on the production by Robbie and
Speaker 1: a special thanks to Bob Huff for sharing this remarkable story.
Speaker 1: He retired at the age of sixty five and only
Speaker 1: three months later retired from retirement, and of course a
Speaker 1: dream comes to him and he's got a pad by
Speaker 1: his side, because that's what entrepreneurs do, especially serial entrepreneurs,
Speaker 1: people who just can't help themselves. They've got to start
Speaker 1: a business. And look at the value he creates all
Speaker 1: around him, from hiring people to providing a service for
Speaker 1: the dogs and giving an opportunity to a convicted felon.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's as simple as starting a business and doing
Speaker 1: good in your neighborhood. The story of Bob Huff, the
Speaker 1: story of his entrepreneurship, and so much more here on
Speaker 1: our American stories,