Today we’d like to introduce you to Kim Weeks.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I grew up in a very small farm town, Carrollton, OH, population 3,000. My parents owned the local bar/restaurant in the town square, I grew up in a “Cheers” environment, where literally everybody knows your name. Even though my parents owned a business and I helped out there a lot, when I told my mom I wanted to get a job, she encouraged me to work for someone else, she wanted me to learn from others. My mom told me from the beginning, “Treat whoever you are working for like their business is your own, be honest, put your head down, work hard and that the results would come, and they did.
While my first job was at age 13 at a marina 20 miles away (mom had to drive me!), I really wanted to work at the ladies and children’s boutique, also on the town square.
They were not necessarily hiring, but my mom told me to go to the store every Friday and ask the owners for a job. I did it and they eventually got tired of me visiting, so they hired me. I absolutely loved this job. I worked there all through high school and until I graduated from Kent State University. The owners were wonderful to me, they took me on buying trips, they allowed me to learn the business from the ground up. After graduating from college in December 1994, I moved to Smyrna with my new husband, Tripp, who I met in college. I began working for Wachovia in 1995, I worked in corporate banking/treasury management, Here, I received the very best training that a person could hope for.
I traveled the US, covering various geographic territories, I called on companies like Wal-Mart, Federal Express, Johnson and Johnson and many others. I loved working at the bank and I loved who I worked with, however, I started to get bored. With encouragement from a trusted mentor, I started to look for a smaller, dynamic and more entrepreneurial company, I decided that “big/corporate” may not be the best long-term fit for me. This is when I found QwickRate and started working for a female owner, Laurie Massaglia. This decision changed my life. I could write a book here and I will not do that. I will just say that I was given an opportunity to help build a company from the ground up. Laurie had started the foundation of the business, but she was ready to grow. I met her at the perfect time in my life.
We built a team, we grew the business, it is still recognized in the banking and credit union industry. I had the privilege to help build a legacy with Laurie. We hired some of the best people, several are still there. We all grew up together and we had a blast doing it! As I moved on, I continued to bring two of my colleagues with me and they are still with me today, Barb and Bruce Hinkle. Along with building QwickRate, I learned so much more. Laurie is one of the best business women that I know. She taught me so much about running a business, she always encouraged me and she allowed me “inside” so I could really learn how to run a business. She supported me when I attended the Executive MBA Program at Kennesaw State University.
Tripp and I both took the program together (we do not have children, so we had the time), we were the first married couple in Georgia to participate in an executive program and we were highlighted in an article in the Business to Business Magazine in Nov/Dec 1999. I was incredibly blessed to have all these opportunities presented to me, I will always be grateful and humbled. I was the President for QwickRate for seven years, I was then recruited to join a startup based in Miami and we opened an office in Kennesaw, I was the President for 3 years. I brought Barb and Bruce with me and once we got this company up and running, Barb and I started a consulting business.
After that, I was recruited to join New York-based StoneCastle, who was one of our consulting clients. Like QwickRate, we also serve community banks at StoneCastle. I am passionate about banking, banks are the heartbeat of this country and I am proud to serve this industry. Gratefully, I have been around this space for so many years that between the 3 of us we have probably touched almost every bank in the country at one time or another! Today, I am a Managing Director and I absolutely love where I work and most importantly who I work with, I feel like my career set me up to land at StoneCastle and I am so incredibly grateful. So, how did I end up with Royal Paws? Even though I have this beautiful career and I am incredibly blessed, the entrepreneurial bug continued to gnaw at me.
My parents eventually sold their business and relocated to Marietta, but I have several family members who have their own businesses. I have been around entrepreneurs my whole life. I wasn’t really looking for an opportunity when Royal Paws presented itself.
My longtime friend, Terri Ray, was thinking of selling her business, Royal Paws Pet Transportation, we talked in 2011, but my career was going very strong and I was not ready. Then it happened! I went to Jacksonville, FL in May 2014 with Tripp and some friends to attend the Crossfit Regionals as we had a friend who was competing and we are all triathletes and crossfitters! Terri relocated from Atlanta to Jacksonville so we stayed with her! We are at the beach, doing handstands and acting crazy and Terri told me she was still considering selling Royal Paws.
At that point, I knew I was ready. I asked her to let me go through the due diligence process with her and that I was interested in buying. My brother, Brad, had started a business with my aunt and uncle, it was Fleet Fueling. It is a common service today, but they were the ones who had the original concept in Atlanta. They built that business from the ground up, they did an outstanding, Brad made sales calls all day and then he and my uncle fueled trucks all night. They worked hard – really hard. And, it all paid off. They sold and Brad started working for another fueling company. When they sold, they had several employees, they built a really beautiful, successful business.
After I came home from Jacksonville, I called Brad and asked if he would like to own a business again. He was interested. Long story short, after lots of due diligence (I called on my banker friends, Terri and I did not use lawyers, we were able to do all of the agreements, etc. on our own!) We bought Royal Paws, while I am the majority owner, my brother deserves the credit. He took all of his experience from Fleet Fueling – he is a logistics guy, he knew how to schedule drivers, he knew all about transportation logistics and working with drive teams. His skills transferred beautifully to Royal Paws. The business has grown a lot, we move pets 24/7, 365 days a year across the US and Canada.
One of the first things we did was send Tripp and Brad to Jacksonville, Tripp is an IT/Technology/Automation expert, so they went and literally watched Terri work for a week. They came home and then Tripp started writing software that would automate a lot of the work. Brad, of course, was providing constant feedback on how to improve the system. We constantly focus on automation and improving efficiencies so that Brad can spend more time working with the customers and not have to spend so much time on the administrivia.
A little history: Royal Paws has been in operation since 2000 and Terri created it to provide the absolute best, private, stress-free care for the pets that are moved across the US and Canada. There are 2 drivers that are assigned to the owner’s pet(s). They are required to switch drivers every four hours during the trip, we provide constant care, stops every 4 hours for walk/feeding/potty breaks unless requested differently by the pet owner, we never co-mingle pets, and all pets are transferred privately. We have hundreds of recent testimonials from very happy customers. Our number one priority is to do very best to provide the best care and transfer experience that we possibly can.
To date, the majority of our moves are cats and dogs, but we have also moved a miniature cow (yes, we had not heard of a mincow!), we have moved chickens, fish, turtles. Our most current unique reservation is for seven ducks and these are household pet ducks!
This is such a fun business, the drivers who transport the pets are major pet lovers and they love traveling across the US and Canada. Our longest move was a dog from Athens, GA to Anchorage AK, but recently we had 2 moves from Houston to Newfoundland! That was a cool move, the drivers were excited about that one! We move for celebrities, we move for corporate locations, we move for the grandparents who are relocating from St. Augustine to Asheville, NC. We are getting more and more requests for moves since the airlines are stopping/reducing their pet moving options.
We also offer military discounts and appreciate those who have to serve and are serving – we are passionate about supporting our military. Terri, the original owner, was very concerned about us upholding her legacy and we wrote it into our agreement that if we didn’t do a good job, she could take the company back. She is very proud of what we (especially Brad) have done with her business. Terri is a very successful entrepreneur, she has 3 degrees, one of which is a chemical engineering degree. She had other business ideas and she wanted to let go of Royal Paws so that she could invest in some new ideas and business opportunities that she is exploring.
We are all incredibly passionate about animals, Tripp and I have 2 Dobermans, Emma and Hunter and our Asian leopard cat, Jazz. I feel very fortunate, my StoneCastle supports my entrepreneurial ventures, so I have the pleasure of working in the financial world and at the same time, participate in the ownership of an incredible business. Since acquiring Royal Paws, Tripp has also purchased a company, Eastern Marine Services, it is based in West Palm Beach and they provide boat cleaning services and other marine services as well. We continue to explore for other small business acquisitions.
We are looking for small, successful business where the children/family does not want the business, we focus on service industries as we do not wish to purchase brick and mortar businesses. I think that two things were key in my path. Absolutely number one, at the very top is my mom. She taught me from day one to always give an honest day of work. I feel that I have a very solid foundation and all of that started with my mom. She herself had an incredible work ethic so she taught by example. The second, was meeting Laurie. It is so important that women support women and that does not always happen.
While I was there to work at QwickRate, Laurie instilled some very important things for me that gave me the courage to buy Royal Paws. I was always watching and observing her. Today, I just try to give back. I have the privilege of mentoring a few women who are working on their careers and I love supporting others and encouraging them because I know how much it has changed my life to be surrounded by those types of individuals.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Overall, it has been fairly smooth, but yes, there are always challenges. My experiences at Wachovia were the smoothest of my career, it was a very professional, respectful environment. They invested heavily in training, I cannot say there were major challenges here, which is in part why I left. It became too easy.
With QwickRate, I was in my early 30’s and I started as a sales manager, so I had to learn how to manage people. I learned quickly that each individual should be managed in a way where they respond best, I cannot manage everyone the same, it does not work, everyone has their own unique history, approaches, etc. and I had to figure out what motivated each person.
Sales come to stress. I am only as good as my last quarter. Gratefully, I am incredibly self-motivated and I am always striving for both professional and personal goals, but when the markets are tough and it is hard to sell, I learned you have to constantly adjust. It requires different sales approaches, different messages, etc. I have to study the markets and ensure that we are on point with our messaging.
Personalities – at the startup, one of the owners could challenging. We didn’t walk the same ethical line and I struggled with accepting how this person managed some things, which made it easy to leave. I have always been told that if my core values are not in alignment with the ownership or my manager, I will ultimately leave. And, I have found that to be true. But dealing with this person’s abrupt personality taught me to respectfully, yet firmly set boundaries. I was a part owner and a board member I had to learn to navigate those situations.
At StoneCastle, I am not the President, I report to the President, I had been a President since 2000 and I had to readjust my thinking and understand that I do not drive the culture. I can drive my team and set the standards there, but as far as the entire company/big picture, I learned when to speak up and address issues and when to respectfully let other managers work it out. I am incredibly respected in my industry and it is hard when co-workers do not understand the level of experience that is represented between myself and a few of my colleagues. I do not aspire to be the President as I will not relocate to NY, I am very happy as a Managing Director.
Anytime there are issues between team members, which may or may not include me, I have found that proper communication is almost always the answer. If I can have a reasonable, productive conversation with another, there is typically no problem that can be solved. Learning this took some time, but today, I don’t really have issues because the minute they come up, I address them and move on. I do not allow things to “build and explode.” that is not good for anyone.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Royal Paws – what should we know?
Royal Paws is unique in that we are the “Ritz Carlton” of pet moving companies. We are incredibly committed to providing the best transfer experience that we possibly can. Our drivers are contractors who are committed to providing the best customer service possible. A few of the drivers were original drives when Terri started the business. The drivers may also drive for Lyft and Uber and other services since they are contractors.
Gratefully, we are booked typically two to three months out so our calendar stays fairly full.
We receive positive feedback and testimonials from customers almost every week. All of that is posted on our FB page if the customer approves. We take a lot of pride in our track record and we are VERY aware of how quickly social media can hurt a business if we do something “stupid.” I have always told Brad, if you are having a bad day, do not answer the phone. In today’s world, you can lose a business via the power of social media. We have to mindful of absolutely everything we say and do. We are very much self-aware and we try to conduct ourselves in the best possible light.
You will not find another transfer company who is more passionate about moving pets!
And, to be fair, we have had 3 complaints since we took over the business. One person felt their cat wasn’t clean when we delivered him. When there is an issue, I typically get involved and address it head-on. If we make a mistake, we own it, we learn from it and we adjust accordingly. We do everything we possibly can to work with the customer.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
There are several words that come to mind: honest, ethical, driven, focused, listen (I am working hard on listening to hear versus listening to reply), kind, respectful, not afraid of hard work, can navigate conflict, can agree to disagree, professional, supportive of others, do not take credit for others’ work, self-aware, flexible, embrace change. If you give the end result that you are looking for, I can figure out how to get it done and focus my team accordingly, I do not require micromanaging, self-driven, I like to smile, laugh and enjoy life, it is too easy to take life too seriously at times. Humor is good.
Finally, I surround myself with people who are smarter than me in the areas where I am weaker, I surround myself with similar people who have active careers and active personal lives, I have completed 3 IronMans, several marathons, several ultra trail races, a 50 mile trail race, I am a Dive Master, love to SCUBA! I am surrounded by people who have positive auras and generate energy. We focus on the positive, we do not do drama.
Life is way too short, so I try to choose to be positive and have a good attitude most days. On the bad days, I deal with it, process through it, allow myself to be human, but I don’t stay in it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.RoyalPaws.com
- Phone: (470) 422-0795
- Email: Brad@royalpaws.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SafePetMovers/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/royal-paws-pet-transportation-atlanta?osq=royal+paws+pet+transportation
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