Don't Go It Alone with Dawn Mucci

Don't Go It Alone with Dawn Mucci

Kelly Kennedy: ​Welcome to episode 78 of the business development podcast. Today, we have serial entrepreneur, Don Mucci with us, founder of Lice Squad, founder of Superhero Kids, Hair with Care. And if you've ever had questions regarding franchising, she's going to tell you why you might want to consider it. Stay tuned.

Intro: The great Mark Cuban once said business happens over years and years. Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal. And we couldn't agree more. This is the business development podcast based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and broadcasting to the world.

You'll get expert business development, advice, tips, and experiences, and you'll hear interviews with business owners. CEOs and business development reps. You'll get actionable advice on how to grow business. Brought to you by Capital Business Development Capitalbd.ca. Let's do it. Welcome to the The Business Development Podcast, and now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly Kennedy: Hello, welcome to episode 78 of the Business Development Podcast. Man, that's crazy. I can't believe we're approaching episode 80 at this point. We're actually recording a month ahead. It's actually October 6th today. I'm not sure the exact release date for this show, but it will definitely be some point in November.

But it is really, really cool. And we have an incredibly exciting serial entrepreneur on for you today. We have Dawn Mucci with us today, and she is with Lice Squad. She's a serial entrepreneur. Dawn Mucci is a highly accomplished entrepreneur, franchisor and community advocate. She is the founder of Licesquad.com and superhero kids hair with care. earning multiple awards in the franchising industry for her innovative concepts and eco friendly products. Dawn's passion for business and community engagement is evident through her board positions at the Canadian Franchise Association, the Innisfil Chamber of Commerce.

She is also known for her advocacy of women in business, creating opportunities for others, and her numerous TV appearances on channels like CTV, CBC, and Global News. Dawn's work has been featured in publications such as Forbes. com, the Huffington Post. She is also an author with the latest publication being a children's coloring book titled The Facts of Lice.

Dawn, that is incredibly impressive. Thank you for coming on with us today.

Dawn Mucci: Well, it is my absolute pleasure to be here and thank you for having me on the show.

Kelly Kennedy: I, yeah, absolutely. Thanks for reaching out. And I just want to make a note here that Dawn actually reached out to us, made an introduction, and I was immediately like, yes, we have to have you on the show.

Your story is awesome. You're a serial entrepreneur. You've done so much. You have products, you have a franchise, and you did it all yourself. And 100%. You are. You are the perfect guest for our show today.

Dawn Mucci: Well, thank you. But I have one small correction. I did not do it all on my own. This is a group and team effort.

It's a superhero team effort. I credit the success of my business and myself. Personally, to all of the amazing people I surrounded myself with from my family, to my staff, to the franchisees and providers who believed in my vision and wanted to come on board and help us create you know an award winning brand and a household name in all things, kids, hair care.

Kelly Kennedy: Amazing. Amazing. That was. You know, that was incredibly kind of you to do that. And I totally agree. I think, you know, I mean, every organization has the people behind it. And it's like the CEOs become the face or the presidents become the face. But the reality is there is a there is a whirlwind of effort from families to co workers behind us to advocates.

And you're right, we can't do it on our own. So thank you for taking the time to do that.

Dawn Mucci: Yes, absolutely. Because we wouldn't be where we are without that kind of support.

Kelly Kennedy: Absolutely. Absolutely. Dawn. Take us to the beginning of your amazing journey. What started this entrepreneurial journey for you?

Dawn Mucci: Well, do you really want me to go all the way back?

Because I could tell you when I was five, I was doing lemonade stands on a busy Toronto street on Roncesvalles. So I had a flat above a record store. And every weekend I'd set up my little lemonade stand. And I'll tell you a funny story about the entrepreneurial spirit. Entrepreneurs are always looking to solve problems and always looking to create value.

So as a young kid, you know, I had a lame. the back of my house, and there was all these cats running around, and I decided one day, and this is just so entrepreneurial that I was going to start a cat adoption agency. So I went around the laneway and I collected cats and back then in the day we had the max milk and the backers and they had the milk crates at the back of the store every morning to, you know, stock up.

And so I collected a bunch of milk crates and then I went and collected a bunch of cats and I stuck them in the milk crates and I used my lemonade money to buy food and some milk. And so I set up this cat adoption agency with all these cats that I thought were just needing homes, but they were.

People's cats. And one day a lady came by and saw, saw my little, my little setup. And she says what are you doing with my cat? And I said, well, I'm adopting them out for 5 each because they're, they need homes. And she said, And under no uncertain circumstances will I pay you 5 for my cat. So that was one funny story.

And you know, the lemonade stand thing, I was always looking for a way to make a dollar as a young girl growing up. I didn't, I didn't come from privilege, so I didn't have a lot of resources. And I. you know, was naturally drawn to looking to solve problems and things like that. And I don't know if I should go into this story, but this is another really funny story back in the day before, you know, we legalized cannabis.

My dad, you know, growing up, he was a, he was a bit of a vagabond, you know, he was a hippie biker and I used to sit in the kitchen and watch his friends come by and give him a little bit of money for bag of green stuff. And I'm like, Oh, that's interesting. So one day, instead of my lemonade stand, I went out front and put my little box out.

And, and prior to that, I went into the backyard and picked some grass off the lawn and put it in baggies because it was green. And I thought, Hey, well, he's getting money for that. I'm going to try that too. Well, that didn't go very well. That was the very fast. Just business that went out of business. Once my dad's friend came by and said, do you know what your daughter's doing at the foot of the flat of your record store?

You know, it was just like stuff like that. And I, you know, always had the, the inclination of just wanting to create value, make money and solve problems. And I always. I always saw things that I could do that with. And you know, my first couple of adventures were not as successful as the one I'm in today.

But that just goes to show the ingenuity of an entrepreneur, right? They're always looking to solve a problem and make some money.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, yeah. And okay, this your story is, you know, I mean, all of my entrepreneurs are like, Yeah, we've been doing this since the beginning. And your story is not unique. A lot of the entrepreneurs that we've had on this show, you ask them, when did we begin?

And they're like, Well, yeah, it was five or I was six. And I was doing mowing lawns, or I was doing sidewalks, or I was selling lemonade, like, It's like a part of you.

Dawn Mucci: It's absolutely, I think it, you know, they see as an entrepreneur born or are they like born that way or did they just learn it?

I think well, God gives us all gifts and talents, right? And once we can tap into that, it's almost natural. It's not like an effort. It's just something that just is there that you pursue because it's part of your DNA. That's what I believe.

Kelly Kennedy: Oh, I I think I'm 100 percent on board with you. The reality is I definitely feel like I was born to do what I do.

How I ended up here was, you know, a mishmash of different things. But it led me to this place. And I definitely feel like I'm doing something now that definitely matches who I am as a person, which is, it's really cool when you finally get to a point like that in your life where you know you're doing something valuable and that you feel good about.

Exactly. So Dawn, you know, obviously you started out, you know, you were a little entrepreneur right from the beginning you got through school and then you went to school for commercial truck driving.

Dawn Mucci: I actually dropped out of school at 15. I, I didn't go to school actually, I wasn't privileged to go on to higher education and I also had some childhood trauma, which made me Very challenged in the school system and just trying to deal with day to day stuff.

So I had a lot of anxiety as a young person. So I did drop out of high school at a young age and went on into a few years of just kind of self discovery and healing. But one thing I always did was I, I always worked for myself. I always found ways to make a living and, and, and do things. So, the commercial truck driving came about when I had my son who was I was 21 and I needed a way to put bread on the table.

So one of the things I fell into was a program which said you can get your commercial truck driving license for free and we'll, we'll do that for you. And then you can get into a career with that. So that's what I did at that time. And I did go into it. And I ended up working for the city of Toronto as a garbage truck driver of all things, because I couldn't do the long haul, which was required from commercial truck driving because I had a young son.

So I went into that field and three years into it, got into a really bad accident because I was cut off by a drunk driver on a night shift and really injured myself. So at that time. I had to go on to a disability and, you know, still with my raising my son, and it was in and around that time he came home with head lice, which was very serendipitous in a way, because as a young child, I struggled with head lice, you know, back in the day, nurses used to come in and check for it on a regular basis, and I was usually the kid who got sent home with it.

And it was very stigmatizing and traumatizing because, you know Thank you. Head lice has that negative stigma associated with it. So I went through a lot of shame and embarrassment around that. But funny enough, when my son brought it home and gave it to me as a young mother, I went looking for help and saw there was nothing available.

And so that's when my entrepreneurial bug. kicked back in and was like, wow, here's a problem I need to solve for myself. And in turn, by doing so, ended up solving it for other parents and created a whole franchise system around it.

Kelly Kennedy: I absolutely love this. I love this because you're absolutely right.

It's one of those things that nobody wants to talk about, but everyone is like, please God, don't let my kids come home with lice. Exactly. You know, back then, you know, when you dealt with that the first time, what was the recommended solution at that time?

Dawn Mucci: Unfortunately, like when I was a kid and I always got up, I was raised by a single father, as I mentioned earlier, and he used to go to the drugstore and buy the pesticide.

And then there was these little horrible combs that were not even designed for hair like mine, which was long and thick. It was more designed for cradle caps. So I remember every time he had to treat me, he was. extremely mad at me and upset, and I was extremely shamed and embarrassed. And also it was very painful to have the comb use.

And I was very exposed to pesticides, which we all know now are so dangerous for the planet and people. And so I went through that whole experience. And so when it happened to me as a young mother with my son, I said, I'm not. doing that. I don't want to go down that road. I, I think there's got to be a better solution and a better way to kindly and gently deal with it without the use of pesticides and chemicals.

And so that became my mission. And I went and I researched and I looked for alternatives. And at the time I also had a, an aromatherapy degree, which I went and studied for. And I decided I was going to use. products that were safe and natural and that we were going to break the stigma associated with head lice and stop the overuse and abuse of pesticides and chemicals on children and our planet. And so that was the foundation of licesquad.com.

Kelly Kennedy: Amazing. Amazing. And so, okay. So obviously there were some steps before you got there. What was that process like of establishing that company? Like, you know, obviously you dealt with the lice, you realized there was this problem. What was the next step for you?

Dawn Mucci: The next step was just just doing it. I had no formal education, as you know, no business education. I just saw a problem that needed to be solved. And so I just researched for myself and I started to provide the. What I learned to other parents and I went, you know, I used to take the TTC with my rolly suitcase from home to home and help other mothers who were in the same situation.

I found myself in and to be honest with you, any, any venture or journey. I don't care who you are in life, how educated you are uneducated or how much resources or lack of resources you have. Yeah. Like you said in the beginning of the interview, the only thing you have to do is take one step at a time and just deal with one challenge at a time, but know what your end goal is and your vision is and, and just continue on you know, doing what you have to do on a day to day basis to make it happen.

It wasn't easy. Honestly, I made all of the classic mistakes. I didn't know about franchising. I didn't know a lot about. business, but I did know in my heart intrinsically a lot about what I wanted to do to help people and solve this problem. And that's all that really matters because once you do that and it, you know, you get the reward of that, it just keeps you motivated to keep going.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, totally, totally. And like, at this point, like, just so that everybody knows, this is not just a whim. Dawn has committed her career to this. It's, you're coming up on your 23rd year of Licesquad.com. Correct. That is, my gosh, like You've basically been doing this since the dawn of the modern internet.

Dawn Mucci: Oh, I love that pun. That's amazing.

Kelly Kennedy: The dawn of the modern internet.

Dawn Mucci: And I remember, I remember I have a picture of myself sitting at my home office in Toronto with a Dinosaur of a computer and sow cow or whatever the heck that internet dial up thing was where you had to listen to that. And I'm sitting there trying to get in there and like, it was just ridiculous.

And like the whole, the whole journey actually was ridiculous, but at the same time, so like rewarding and, and. Funny. And I just, I remember looking back at those days thinking, I don't know what the hell I'm doing, but I'm just going to do it.

Kelly Kennedy: No, great. Like, so, okay. Like, what was the moment, Dawn, where you're like, okay, like, this is it.

I'm, I'm starting a, I'm starting a lice business and I'm just going to do it. What was that moment? Like, cause I think for a lot of entrepreneurs, we really struggle. We really struggle. What was it? The injury. It gave you the motivation to take that jump or was there something else?

Dawn Mucci: What it was, was going through the same experience I had gone through as a child again as a mother with a young son and that, that was kind of the impetus of why I decided this was, well, I didn't decide it was like I said, divine intervention.

This is My calling of all callings. And so I'm like, okay, whatever, I'm going to just, I'm going to do this because it meant something to me to be able to not only help myself and my own son, but to help other people with the same situation. So, you know, it was just, it was one of those serendipitous moments where you realize that, you know, you've been given an opportunity and a gift and you should just use that.

And to create value for others and little did I know back then that what I was doing would then eventually turn into me being able to empower other women and men into business ownership, not for themselves or by themselves, but with you know, a greater vision. And I, to this day. The most valuable thing to me about this whole experience is the fact that I've now put so many other people into business for themselves and not by themselves, and I've created something that is of need in many communities across the country and something that people are really grateful for.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes, yes. And keep in mind too that Dawn has done all this without Without a formal business education, and I think that that's something that I really want to speak to my entrepreneurs today. I think there's this misconception that in order to be incredibly successful at business, you have to have a grade A or triple A education.

So much of entrepreneurship is learned. And is how determined are you as a person to make it successful? I truly, truly believe that if you have a great idea and you're holding yourself back right now because you're saying, I don't have a business degree. I don't have an MBA. I don't have a BA. I don't know what I'm doing.

Understand that. Don't let that hold you back there. You are capable. You are capable of launching a business today regardless of where you stand. Education is an ongoing thing. You learn as you go and while yeah, sure, an MBA or something like that will give you an advantage or set you up in ways that maybe help you not make, make a mistake that maybe you would've made on the other side of it, there's so much help out there for new entrepreneurs.

That, and there's so many good books and so many ways to learn and so many shows like this one to help you. Don't let that hold you back. If you have a great idea, jump, because there's no better day than today. The next best day was yesterday, so you better do it today.

Dawn Mucci: Exactly. And you know, it's not just education.

It's also the financial resources. I mean, I started while I was on a disability and I had 500 in my bank account and I just knew that there was, there was value in what I'd been, what I'd received as my, my calling. And I just took what I had and I worked with it. And like you said, anything you do for over 10, 000 hours gives you that education and it's ongoing and it never ends.

To this day, I'm still learning. I'm still growing and, and yeah, anyone can do anything they want. As long as they have the passion and the persistence, those are the two key things.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes, yes, absolutely. Absolutely. That's why you should never start a business for something that you are not passionate about because you are going to work.

More than you've ever worked in your life. Mark my words. And so, best be doing something that you love. Like, I genuinely love what I do. I love business development. I love doing this podcast. I love helping people. And so, for me, I actually get in a little bit of trouble around my household because I have no issue working most of the time because I genuinely love doing it that I have to like set myself back and say, Look, like I need to stop because I have a family.

I have other obligations in my life other than this. But the reality is I have zero issue spending my free time working, which I don't think has ever been a case in my life ever before until I became an entrepreneur.

Dawn Mucci: Yeah, because if you love what you're doing, it really isn't work. It's more of a mission.

It's a passion and it's something that feeds our soul and it feeds our, our meaning for being here on the planet. Like we all need to. Have a purpose. And when you're living your purpose, you could do it 24 seven, but I don't recommend that. I really think you need to have boundaries and, you know, make those times for the things that are important in life like family and, you know self care.

But at the end of the day, when you're doing what you love, it's not work at all.

Kelly Kennedy: No, no, it really, really isn't. And, you know, I'm just going to state like, you know, I took business administration, you know, I took, I took basic business. I learned, but I'll tell you why I learned more in doing business development and actually doing marketing, business development, sales than I ever learned in school.

Like, the schooling was the ticket to get me the job. I really learned everything that I know today on the job. So, you know, I hope that this has inspired at least a couple of you to jump today to, to stop putting that business on hold and say, you know what? Today's the day I'm gonna do it, and I'll figure it out as I go.

Dawn Mucci: Exactly. And you know, because when you get an inspirational idea or a vision there, that's given to you as a gift to use or to lose. And so, you know, if you don't use it, you'll lose it. And, and half the time, the things that. That come into your mind while you're meditating or walking or just, you know, sitting around contemplating your life when you get these ideas and visions, I would really just suggest you just act on it and don't worry about your academia or your finances, just take it and run.

Kelly Kennedy: Momentum is a real thing too, and people don't really think about that, but you can definitely, there's a right time and a right place for everything, and being able to recognize that, I don't know if that's an intrinsic thing, or like you said, a divine intervention, but when you know you have momentum, you need to act on it, and don't let that pass you by. Exactly. Alright, well Dawn, so take me, okay, so we've established Lice Squad. We've got it going. What happened next?

Dawn Mucci: Well, a lot of mistakes, you know, a lot of learning and what happened next? Well, it went really well. It, it actually despite all the obstacles and things it, it went and it went really great until the pandemic hit, which was a, a very challenging time for many entrepreneurs and business owners it, it literally almost wiped the business out because, you know, headlights requires, you know, social contact and then there was the shutdowns and all of those things. And so, you know, I was really happy with the way the business was going and I built it up to a place where I thought, you know, this is a, an opportune time for me to maybe sell or bring a partner or do something to make it even greater.

And then the pandemic hit and I went through a series of, challenges and doubts and fears and uncertainties, which now brought me to where I am today on the other side, which I feel is like a fresh start. It's like a starting from scratch with everything I've learned and I've accomplished and know how to do to now taking that into a new way of positioning the business and also getting it.

even better than it was prior to that kind of devastating situation.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's, it's one of those things where I'm sure it took a little break, but let's get real. Lice ain't going anywhere. Not yet. They're not.

Dawn Mucci: No, they're not. And despite the fact that I had to go through and my franchisees and staff had to go through making sacrifices and you know, losing revenue and being, you know, in a situation of, well, we don't know what's going to happen next.

You know, the, the, the, everything that happened during the pandemic was devastating for many entrepreneurs and business owners. Some really thrived and strived during that time, but there was others highly affected sectors like myself that were really holding on for dear life. But. The fact the matter is that what that did was further fortify that we're still here now, and we have an even greater opportunity.

And despite having to take loans and losing revenue, we now learn more about what we're capable of and what we could do better. And even achieve greater on the other side. So what I learned through, through the pandemic was the value of the people that are around you, the value of believing in your vision, even if the, the site.

line in front of you is really foggy and unclear that you have an opportunity to take that and make something even greater. So I decided, well, we've always just been a headlice removal business, but why couldn't we be all things kids hair care? Why couldn't we get into just adding to what we already do really well.

the people really need and adding something else onto that. So we decided to branch into all things kids hair care, which now includes we do haircuts for kids as well as a line of children's hair care products. So we now have more opportunity than we had prior.

Kelly Kennedy: I love this. I love this. So you have, you have franchise locations.

That a parent can take their kid, just like going to First Choice, or just like going to whatever, name your barbershop. Where it's like, oh my gosh, like, my kid is dealing with lice? And we need some hair stuff. Like they can get all that done in one place.

Dawn Mucci: Exactly. So for many years I thought, well, you can't, you can't do headlights removal and haircuts because the co the stigma, right?

The, it's like, I'm not going to a head lice place to get my kids' haircut, or I'm not going to haircutting place that does head lice. But honestly, the opposite was true because it's a, it's the same market, it's the same need for. the parent and the child. So I'm coming to get my lice removed, but my kid also needs a haircut.

So there's a new customer, there's a new opportunity or I'm coming for a haircut. But now I know that if my kid gets head lice, I can get it removed. So we're not doing the same thing in the same space. So we have a separate retail front for the hair cutting and a separate retail front for the lice removal, but they're both so complimentary that one benefits the other and vice versa.

So you know, and, and then adding to our product line of head lice removal care products, we now have children's hair care products. And the whole thing from the very beginning of the mission was to stop the overuse and abuse of pesticides and chemicals on children and the planet. So we can do that in both, both of those areas now.

Kelly Kennedy: This is amazing. And I have two points that I really want to talk to you about because there are two things that we actually haven't had on our show yet, Dawn. And I'm really excited to talk to you about both of them. The first one is. Tell me about the moment that you were like, I have a great, I have a great system here.

I have a great company. Tell me about the moment where you're like, I'm going to franchise and walk us through what, what taking a business into a franchise looks like.

Dawn Mucci: Well, to be honest, I didn't have any idea about franchising as a growth model for a business. I was just doing what I felt called to do.

And one day a lady from Sudbury called me up named Diane and she said, Hey I want to buy a franchise. She'd gone on my website looking for help for headlights. And I said, Oh, okay. And I'm like, I don't know. I'll just find out what that entails. So I called a lawyer and talked to them about, you know, what I was doing.

And I, someone wanted to buy a franchise and how could they help me? And Lo and behold, five months later, there was a franchise agreement drawn up and a franchise disclosure document drawn up and I called Diane. I said, so I'm ready to bring you on as my first franchisee. She's still with me to this day, 23 years later and to be honest, I just, I just went for it and learned again along the way about franchising.

And it is one of the most amazing growth models for business in this day and age. Franchising is the biggest generator of small business in Canada. It is one of the. Best ways to be in business for yourself, but not by yourself by having the expertise and experience and roadmap of someone who's come before you to succeed in it, to then pass you the baton to join that.

So yeah, franchising was something I learned along the way.

Kelly Kennedy: My gosh, that is so impressive. I can't even tell you Dawn, how impressive that is. You know, tell me like, okay. So. What does what did that look like? How does a model like that work? Just out of curiosity.

Dawn Mucci: So if you have an idea or a vision and you take that jump and you get into it and you start doing it after about a year or two.

Once you've done it, and it's proven itself successful, then you just are simply replicating the model or replicating yourself into another person joining in and doing the same thing just in a different community or area. So after about a year and Diane on board, we both were running successful businesses.

And so it came time to say, Hey, let's replicate this. Let's find other like minded people who have the same passion and persistence to want to help their community with this particular issue and started marketing the opportunity. I joined the Canadian Franchise Association, which I would suggest anybody with an idea that wants to franchise does join because there you'll find the mentorship and the expertise and all the resources you need to be able to take that vision.

You have and and create that opportunity. And so that's exactly what happened and I started selling franchises and started empowering other people to, to get into business. And you know, it grew from there and, and we, you know, we just created a great team of like minded individuals who are all, you know, focused on the same goal and the same, you know, mission.

And, you know, here we are now.

Kelly Kennedy: Amazing. What what in? Oh, man, like, it's just it's crazy. It's great. So how many franchises do you have right now?

Dawn Mucci: Well, we were at 36 prior to COVID. Now we're down to 33. And I've taken over a few corporately. And the beauty of franchising is you can have it as a hybrid, you don't have to be strictly franchised.

Yeah. Franchise some and operate corporately. So I have some corporate clinics in Calgary and Barrie and Ajax and Durham area and Brampton Vaughan. But then I also have owners and you know what else is really cool. You know, there's a lot of people coming into the country. You know, immigrating or, you know, coming here for various reasons that are really smart and educated, but they can't, you know, find work in their vocation.

So a lot of them are turning to franchising as a way to make a living for themselves and their families. And I've been so blessed to have have met so many amazing women who've come here and actually started. a light squad franchise. And many of them are multiple owners. Malika came from Morocco and she now owns three.

I have a lady named Adwa who came from Iraq and she owns three. And like, it's just amazing to see that, you know, you can also provide an opportunity to people who are otherwise, you know, they had. Such opportunities where they came from, but they couldn't use it here. So they, they found their success and their niche in a franchise model and a franchise business, not just my own, but so many others.

I mean, I think so many people have opportunities to just take what other people have done successfully and replicate that. And that's the beauty of it for me. I just feel so grateful and I feel fulfilled that I've. been able to, through my, my idea, give other people a means to earn a living. It's amazing.

Kelly Kennedy: Congratulations. That, that is truly remarkable. There's, there's no, there's no two ways about it. 30, even like 36 locations. You're down to 33. You took on three of them. It really sounds like the best of both worlds. It really sounds like every organization, once they've had a certain level of success, as long as it's replicatable.

Should really consider this model.

Dawn Mucci: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, franchising is meant to have, you know, owners pay royalties and what have you to sustain the franchise model. But that's not to say you can't also have a hybrid of corporate locations, which then further fortify your cash flow and your ability to continue to grow.

So yeah, it's, and that was another learning I got through, through the pandemic of, you know just being able to, I don't want to use the word pivot cause it's been way overused, but adjust or modify, you know, your initial thinking of how this is going to be to what it could be through other various applications of business model growth.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Well, I think what, what any type of downturn or, or lull in business does for a business. Is just as beneficial. You know, you have to look for the positives really. And when you have a lull. It really gives you a chance to sit back and say, okay, what is it about my value proposition here or my pricing model or my structure that is not working?

And if you're listening to your customers and you're getting good feedback, you can usually figure out how to wrap that around or adjust that or improve your value proposition or improve your guarantee customers or find a way. to make a much better product than you ever have or ever had going into it.

Dawn Mucci: Well, they're the direct feedback of what you need to do. So, you know, customer satisfaction, loyalty, trust. That's paramount. And you have to listen to that feedback. The biggest struggle I'm having right now is meeting my demand because I have so many people wanting the services and not enough providers.

That's the other. A little, I guess, crappy part of what COVID did was the workforce is not what it used to be. It's harder to find and retain quality providers on the back end of even corporate and franchises. My franchisees struggle with that too. It's a, it's a good problem to have, right?

Like, wow, we have so much business we can't keep up with, but at the same time, you know, trying to find ways to navigate around how to fix that issue.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, well, you're not alone. Let me just tell you right off the bat. You are not alone. I've talked to plenty of businesses that are struggling to find people right now and everything from industrial to service based like what you're doing.

So don't don't feel like it's a you problem. It is at least at least have solace in the fact that everybody's experiencing it. Yeah, you know, okay, so Amazing. Thank you first off for like explaining the system and how the franchise works and really the benefits of it for a business because it's like you're not limited once you switch to a franchise to just franchising.

You can still have your own locations and I love that. I think that that's absolutely amazing and it starts to make it almost a no brainer. to take a look at it. If you have a repeatable model.

Dawn Mucci: Absolutely. And also because everything in franchising is franchising is based on a system, something that is easy for people to use.

And now with the advent and progression of AI, it can even make it that much more functional and that much. better. You know, improving your CRM, your customer relationship management systems, improving how an operator can, you know, limit their amount of administration and bookkeeping through that type of technology has really been a game changer because that allows the owner to then do what the owner needs to do, which is focus on networking, marketing their business, not working in the business, but on the business and having those.

Types of tools in place. So I've been lucky to partner up with some amazing people who are on the, you know, the cutting edge of AI, my friends Mallory and Arif from Siva Creative have created an amazing model that would really bet has benefited me, but will be a benefit to many other franchise systems, whereas you're, you know, spending less time.

playing around with the administrative stuff and more time doing the business stuff.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes. Yes, absolutely. Cause as you know, you know, you're not making money when you're doing admin stuff.

Dawn Mucci: So, and the bookkeeping and all that, it just drains you, right? Like as a franchisor, my goal and my, my role is to be a leader.

It's to be a marketer is to be a networker is to be a support system. I should not be sitting worrying about inputting invoices and, and dealing with the day to day administrative stuff. Right. And is as an owner of a franchise, a sister, a franchise, like a franchisee, the same thing goes, you're leading your team, your networking, your marketing, your, you know, doing that.

The stuff that needs to help the business grow. You're not sitting in there day to day doing all the answering of phones and all of that stuff.

Kelly Kennedy: Absolutely. So, you know, I mean, I know we have a lot of listeners right now that are like, Hey, tell me, what is it? What are you doing? Can you elaborate a little bit on, on how you're automating some of those systems?

Dawn Mucci: Absolutely. So with A. I. It eliminates a lot of the front end and not like I don't say I want to eliminate jobs or eliminate other like human resources, but it eliminates a lot of the mundane day to day tasks that take up a lot of time, which takes away from the time you need to be doing what you need to do to build your business.

So you know, instead of having to You know, take all the invoices and input them into QuickBooks or whatever other accounting system you use. It's automatically done when the provider provides the service and inputs the invoice through the CRM, which is the way we manage our customers expectations and deliverance of services.

So it's things like that, like scheduling, calendaring, everything making sure that, you know, people are followed up with or, you know, It's, it's all the little things that happen day to day that can be automated in a way that takes a way that doesn't take away from your time to actually be growing your business.

So with an AI system, you can literally have that do. Those things for you while you're out there leading and marketing and networking and, and doing things like I'm doing with you right now, like this hour we're taking, I could be doing in putting invoices, but no, I don't have to do that anymore, you know?

Kelly Kennedy: Were you able to find solutions in the market? Or was this something that you had to do to have developed by a team?

Dawn Mucci: Well, there's a lot of them out there. There's a lot of like, you know, Salesforce and Thrivee. There's so many sorry, there's, there's a bunch of dogs barking in the background here.

There's so many there's so many broad spectrum types of CRMs and apps that are out there you can use, but they're developed as a kind of like they're not there. They're not for the individual business. So the company that I've been working with Siva has developed something custom to each company, which allows each company to have the autonomy and control over that system, whether not being under a broader system, which only has certain things in place because it's, it's meant for everybody, not an.

kind of individual company. So they created something called chamber made, which initially was made to help chambers grow their memberships and, and, and utilize their operations in a more efficient manner. So they've now tried to translate that into helping franchisors with the same functions. So yeah, yeah.

So you're basically being given a custom chambermaid that's there the way they call it, but you're being given a custom CRM with custom functionality based on what your business model is and what your needs are.

Kelly Kennedy: Wow. Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. At Capitol and with all of our clients, we like to use pipe drive.

You know, I've heard that we've actually become an official partner of theirs, but that's a new development. I've been been slanging them for years. I absolutely love their product. I I've been using it for the last decade with basically every company that I've worked at. And we had to pick a standard, right?

If you're gonna have a business development firm, you need to have your employees trained on something. And so we picked pipe drive because it's cost effective and it does everything we need it to do. But yeah, I totally agree. I think a custom CRM setup of any type, as long as it is functional and designed to be effective and efficient, is going to be great.

Like there's lots of great options, like you already, you already mentioned. But at the end of the day, my recommendation is always to have a separate one though. Like a lot of ERP systems now come with, come with a CRM. What they call it. The problem is that the CRM is an afterthought. They tend to be clunky, slow.

They don't have all the information you need. They may not have the automated tasks you're talking about. And so I do always recommend that even if you have an ERP system, have a moment at which you input data into the ERP. But I highly, highly recommend that you have a CRM that's designed for horsepower and efficiency.

It'll just make your business development teams that much more effective. Absolutely. So yeah, no, I love it. I love it. Are, are there any other automated systems that you guys are using currently other than a CRM?

Dawn Mucci: Well, I mean, we just, we don't need much more than that. Like, I believe simplicity is best in business.

The more anyone can complicate things, right? But it takes something special to simplify and the simpler, the better. So we really just rely on good scheduling, good input of data reporting of data KPIs. We look at our, you know integration with our accounting system. We look at just being able to have the connectivity and the communication back and forth with our providers and franchisees and customers.

And a lot of that is done through CRM. There, there's really nothing else that I'm. actively doing at the moment, other than, you know, I do my goal is to be out there talking about the business, creating relationships, you know, doing these types of interviews so I can, you know, get the information out.

But at the end of the day, you need a simple functioning system to allow the day to day interactions and. Transactions that need to happen to grow your business, and that's what we found using a CRM. And other than that, just excellent customer quality service, you know, being that being that go to place for this particular issue that needs to be solved and providing an exceptional customer care experience and that back and forth open communication.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes, yes, absolutely. I agree completely. You know, I mean, it doesn't really matter what you do if you can't do it. Well, so it's very important that you you not only offer a service, but you can deliver it to a client satisfaction. Very critical. Yes. Dawn, can you take me into the products that you have developed?

That is something else that I really wanted to talk to you about. Because once again you have actually developed a line of products. What was that experience like?

Dawn Mucci: Well, as I mentioned earlier, I was aromatherapist certified, and back when I started the business, I was using essential oils as, as part of the process to help remove lice.

Since that time, of course, everything, you know, ebbs and flows and evolves, and I got into using enzyme based products and now we're using mineral, mineral-based products. So all of these things that I've used as the key ingredient in our product line are all. You know, equal friendly, they're, they're people and planet friendly, safe.

They have no bad side effect at all. They're, they're effective in the process of what we do. So I, you know, started out with one product and then it just grew into a line of about 10 different products. So we have everything from the head lice application products to products that can be used to help with creating a scent barrier for for that, as well as things for the environment and now working on a line of children's you know, natural hair care products, which are paraben free and, you know, that type of thing.

Parents really don't. want to use things on their Children that are harmful for them or their, you know, or for our environment. And so what I've found is that when you are meeting that need and providing something that will be effective, people will use it. But with head lice, When you have bugs in your hair, people will do anything to get them out.

And so what happens is they will do anything they hear on the internet or they'll go to the drugstore and they'll put whatever the pharmacist gives them, not even realizing, right? So again, my mission was to stop the overuse and abuse of pesticides and chemicals on children in the environment. And so I've stuck with that and it's been very well received.

So people are now more cognizant and aware of, of, you know, what's. What's in the product that they're using. And for us, it was important to use things that parents could feel safe and trusting of for their, their kids.

Kelly Kennedy: So what is, what does that process look like? Right? Like you have an idea, you know, you had the aromatherapy, you knew exactly what to put together to make these products, but it's not just enough to throw things together and say it's for sale, right?

Like, what are the steps involved in getting in, in an eye, taking it from an idea to a marketable product to on a shelf?

Dawn Mucci: Right. So once you have, when you have the raw ingredient and, and you've had that, you know, tested and verified, and you have to go through the obvious channels through Health Canada you know, to get your product classified under whatever designation it falls under, whether that be a cosmetic or a natural health product or a drug identification product like a DIN.

So you have to go through those channels. You have to find yourself a good manufacturer and fulfiller. Who is able to take your ingredient and the other components necessary to make it work, to be able to formulate that for you. So that's exactly what I did. I, you know, partnered up with a cosmeceutical company to do that for me and do all the bottling and labeling, and then went through Health Canada to get the, no, the, the designations required to then be able to sell it to the general public.

Kelly Kennedy: Wow. And what was the how long did that take? What was that process?

Dawn Mucci: Have to be honest. It's it's pull my wisdom teeth out right now. Anything to do with government regulations or anything to do with Health Canada is a put my nails on a chalkboard. It is a very frustrating process, not only prior to COVID, but post COVID, , there's a backlog.

There's a lot of backlog. There's a lot of there's not a lot of help involved in you figuring out that system. And I don't think one hand talks to the other. So yeah, that'll be the biggest frustration of my whole lifetime as far as product development goes. Oh boy.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Is it is, is part of that process?

Do you have any patents on it or was that part of it at all?

Dawn Mucci: They're proprietor. They're IPs.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. No, it's, I, you know, I mean, I, I have had limited experience dealing in that area, but I have heard that it is challenging. So I'm always interested to hear what your experience was. Well,

Dawn Mucci: it wasn't good.

I'll put it to you that way.

Kelly Kennedy: Oh, boy. Wow. You did it, though. So, congratulations. You're out the other end. You're out the other end.

Dawn Mucci: Yeah. For now. Until I develop a new product. Right? Because it's always ongoing.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. So, you've done that. You have around ten products now. Are they just being sold on your shelves or have you managed to get any partnerships?

Dawn Mucci: So, they're sold through our franchise network, they're sold on e commerce, they're sold through health food stores and drug stores. So, we've managed to, you know, have a number of revenue streams through various partnerships and collaborations. We, you know, are doing it, using it in our service. So selling direct to consumer.

So, yeah, any, any way to sell a product, we are doing it.

Kelly Kennedy: Amazing. So take me through your business development strategy. I know I've got a little bit of flack from this recently. I haven't asked enough. But what, what has been effective for you with regards to marketing this? Or creating these relationships?

Dawn Mucci: Business development strategy, persistence, persistence networking you know, just going out and making the call, just going and finding new partnerships you know, business development, and you can have a business plan.

You can have all that, but it all goes to the wayside in the application of things. It looks good on paper, like I said earlier, but it's in the actual active activity. That you do to create those business development relationships. So it's, you know, it's going and becoming an expert in your field and be being on television, radio podcasts to share your information.

It's, it's about going and knocking on the door of those, those distributors that you want to embrace your product and help you sell it's, it's really just. Taking the initiative and doing what you have to do to get your brand and your products into the marketplace through various channels.

There is no set plan. I don't have a plan. I just, I just go.

Kelly Kennedy: Well, you're doing the right things though, right? Whether you had a plan or not, you've chosen an active strategy, which is what we 100 percent advocate for on the business development podcast, where you, you know, I mean, you're not waiting around or you're not just relying on your passive strategies.

Yeah. Passive strategies are part of it, but you were actively reaching out saying, Hey, I have this great product. Would you like to hear about it? Here's the marketing material. Let's set up a meeting. You are not sitting on the sidelines waiting for things to happen to you. And whether you knew it or not, you're already doing the right things.

Dawn Mucci: Well, I mean, that's what you have to do. You can't wait for the business to come to you. You have to go find the business. And if you've got a great product and service to offer then you, you know, you have to get out there and you have to let people know about it. And they're not just going to find you.

Although if you create yourself a great you know, household name brand, and someone looks up a certain thing on like whatever you're doing, if you're making burgers or picking head lice and someone. Google's that you want to be there. You want to be that, that, that trusted source where people will call you from there, but at the same time, realize that you're responsible for getting your message and your brand out there.

So you have to take the initiative and make those cold calls and do, do that networking that's required to give you, you know, new customers.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes, yes, absolutely. And you know, unfortunately, though, Don, we live in a time where advertisers will tell you, well, just just come on with us. We'll create a whole bunch of ads and we'll throw them out there and work will just come your way.

You don't have to do anything, but they're feeding them. You know, false truths, right? There's they're saying like, yeah, you may get for a B to C strategy. Like if you, if all you're doing is marketing to individuals, yeah, a hundred percent of social strategy works super well, advertising, TV, radio ads. If you are marketing to individuals that works incredibly well, where it falls flat on its face is when you need to build business to business relationships.

And so it's like, you need to really adapt. different strategies, depending on what you're targeting. Tell me a little bit about your experience on both sides, because you've marketed to individuals and you've marketed to businesses. What do you do for one that you don't do for the other and vice versa?

Dawn Mucci: I just do it all across the board.

I mean, honestly like I said, if you have a viable product or service, it's appealing to a distributor as well as a customer. So really at the end of the day, you just have to take the time. As I said, not working in the business, but on it. By creating those relationships, going out there and networking, doing media, doing you know, expert panels and, you know, providing advice around the subject or topic that you're solving honestly, you.

you just have to get yourself out there. Put yourself out there, ask for what you want. And you know, you'll, you'll nine times out of 10 get it. You don't know until you ask, and no one's going to come asking to you unless, you know, they're in this situation, if they need that help, but nine times out of 10, if you go and ask for someone's business, you're likely to get it. If you have a value proposition to offer them.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes, absolutely. And if you're doing it this way, you're being proactive instead of reactive. And so you want to get in front of as many people as you can before they need your product. Exactly. It's great if they find you when they need your product, but that's pretty rare.

If you can get ahead of it and you can do this marketing and get your name out there so that people know, Hey, if I get lice, I got, I got to call lice squad. Like that's where I go. That's going to be a lot more effective than if they're having to Google or try to hunt you down because now they're in trouble.

Yeah, it might work, but it works a lot better if they already know who you are.

Dawn Mucci: Yeah, that's very challenging for a lot of businesses, especially small businesses and startups or entrepreneurs who are just starting up. They don't have that money to spend on these. You know, like you said earlier the companies that say I'm going to take your stuff and put it all over social media and I'm going to, be your PR agent and get you on all kinds of you know, shows to, to discuss your brand.

That's a very expensive undertaking. So it really comes down to the individual entrepreneur or business owner to do that for themselves in the beginning and maybe educating themselves on how to best do that, because it's important to know how to get your word out there because you can't always afford to pay someone else to do that for you.

And half the time, and from my experience, when I've paid firms to You know, take on a social media campaign or do some advertising or PR marketing for me. It didn't pan out. I didn't get the ROI, but when I did it for myself, which didn't cost me anything, I got a lot more. So again, initiative, put yourself out there, get out there, be an expert learn the technology that you need to, to create your brand awareness.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes. Yes. I agree. Cause I've made, I've done the exact same things, right? Like, you know, in the beginning, even though I knew better, I paid for passive marketing strategies with very, very little ROI. And if I go out and make those, make those same connections, much, much better ROI. So I mean, an active strategy I've always found to be effective.

I think that any business should have about 80 percent active and a 20 percent passive strategy. You got to tackle a little bit on the passive side, but if you, if you spend most of your time reaching out to people, introducing you, getting in front of them, booking meetings. where you can really discuss your product, your service, and really make your value proposition, you are going to be so much more effective than just waiting for the phone to ring.

Dawn Mucci: Absolutely. And so an example of that is you know, I'll get, I'll get emails from magazines or marketing companies saying, Hey we're selling this ad and you can, you know you know, promote your brand through advertising with us. And I always come back to them saying, I'd love to do that, but how about I provide you with a timely and relevant article or some expertise advice so we could do something around educating your audience.

And I end up getting, you know, a free, a free editorial or a thing on breakfast television or some other. media platform where, yeah, there's value there for them and for us. And, and there's no, there's no need to transfer any cash for that because we're benefiting each other. So always take any kind of opportunity where someone's trying to sell you something to give them something back for free.

Kelly Kennedy: Very cool. That's really great advice. You know, if you were to give one piece of advice, Dawn, to yourself in the very beginning, that would have given you a whole lot of help, what might that have been?

Dawn Mucci: Get more help. Get more help. I hear that a little bit. You know, they say, it's funny, it's a head lice thing.

You can't wear all the hats in your business, plus you'll catch head lice sharing hats. So for me, if I had one piece of advice for myself was to, to not go it alone and to just get more help. people smarter than you on your team to fortify your team with that kind of support and backup. And then also don't expect perfection.

Be hard on yourself to be just go with the flow because every experience is a good experience, whether it's good or bad. It teaches you something. So yeah, just just be easy on yourself.

Kelly Kennedy: Amazing. I love that. Be easy on yourself. That's a great, that's a great piece of advice. Dawn, we have come to the end of our show today.

It's been an absolute pleasure having you on. Do you have any questions for me before we wrap it up?

Dawn Mucci: How are you going to help me promote my business after this call?

Kelly Kennedy: Oh, absolutely. We can work together. I'm sure. I'm sure there's multiple ways, but you know, I'm going to promote an active strategy. So our listeners already know that too, but we can definitely have a conversation.

This has been Episode 78 of the Business Development Podcast. Thank you so much for spending time with us today. We have had Don Mucci, Founder, CEO, Lice Squad, Superhero Kids, Hair with Care. It's been amazing, Don. Thanks for coming on.

Dawn Mucci: You know what? Thank you so much for having me. I so appreciate the opportunity and keep doing your great work.

I know it's benefiting so many people.

Kelly Kennedy: Oh, thank you so much. We will do our best. Once again, you've been listening to the Business Development Podcast, and we will catch you on the flip side.

Outro: This has been the Business Development Podcast with Kelly Kennedy. Kelly has 15 years in. Sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020.

His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development. The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your business development specialists. For more, we invite you to the website at www.capitalbd.ca. See yoU next time on the business development podcast.