THE FRANCHISE OUTLOOK FROM THE EYES OF CURRENT FRANCHISE OWNER, DOUG HAYDEN
Doug Hayden hasn’t always had the best run of things when it comes to business.
In 2013, shortly after his mother-in-law unfortunately passed of breast cancer, the pair attempted to take over the 70-year-old family business, where they manufactured equestrian gear and sold it wholesale to distributors.
“Nobody knew anything,” said Doug Hayden, current owner of The Flying Locksmiths Indianapolis market. “So the next day we tried to sit down and run this business that had been going for 70-years with no guidance or manuals or passwords, absolutely nothing. it was a rough couple of years to get our feet into the business and the business wasn’t in good shape anyway.”
He says this experience was the impetus for his thought to own a franchise in the first place.
“I was trying to start something existing, in or around the service industry because that’s what I pinpointed to be longer lasting that wouldn’t change overnight,” he said.
A franchise-owner now for two-and-a-half years, he says he feels confident about his future in part due to the support he receives from the Franchise Network and other owners and the space The Flying Locksmiths occupies in the security and service industry overall.
The service industry is fragmented, and quality and experience levels differ from market to market, so if you’re a national company looking to employ a service company, consistency in quality is incredibly important. The Flying Locksmiths solves this in part by harnessing the centuries of experience held between their 100s of employees and owners across the country.
From an owner’s perspective, it’s a strong proposition, due to the company’s unique position as an almost unchallenged disruptor in the security industry. It allows a stable source of revenue, making The Flying Locksmiths a profitable franchise opportunity overall.
As far as the service industry is concerned, Doug is a great fit for it. Down to his very bones, Doug is a man possessed of an intense wanderlust and constant need for change. Imagining him remaining stagnant is like imagining a lion eating tofu—it just goes against his very architecture.
Tracing that back before he was owner, before his college days, before his marriage and the birth of his first son—Doug was just a boy possessed of an intense desire to be an astronaut.
“I was and am obsessed with space and NASA and wanted to be a flight director,” Doug said. “The unknown of it, the danger of it, the situations. I just thought it’d be a really cool job and really cool place to work.”
In the 5th grade, he had an opportunity to go to the Kennedy Space Center. This was in the late 90s, and being there only enhanced the passion and drive he had for his dream.
No less, of course, because he had an opportunity to meet an astronaut during an interview panel session. “That was my special moment,” Doug said. “I remember him being up on stage and being awe inspired. It was like I met a rock star or an athlete it was the pinnacle of celebrity at the time.”
The dream that consumed his childhood, of course, fizzled out as they often do as the intimidating bulwark of working life eventually caught up with him. As he got into high school, his interests pivoted to entrepreneurship. His father had worked for 30-years, but always had side projects running small businesses.
Within that time, Doug’s father had owned five businesses.
“He was a hard worker he was not always around but that was because he was working every night,” Doug said. “I was fascinated mostly helping out but that usually turned out, he liked to teach so it would usually turn into him teaching me about business and what he was working on or why he was working on it.”
This experience with his father made him replace his life goal from becoming an astronaut to becoming a business owner himself. As he went through college though, his attention turned to what business he would own.
That’s when he began researching the Flying Locksmiths and found it to check all the boxes he needed. It was a good deal of work though.
“Until you get in there it’s hard to picture that,” He said. “I opened April 1st and July 6th my first son was born. It compounded the work there for those first couple years.” He says though, the support he receives, and the immediate demand of the business-model sets it distinctly apart from his attempt to take over his mother-in-law’s company many years ago.
“As time goes on and as the whole strength of the company grows and as we finish completing that map— it’s going to get stronger the more people we have,” Doug said.
“Franchise owners and corp., I think there is a lot of people mostly moving in the same direction with the same end goal in mind that’s helping us get there.”