Don Stone’s entrepreneurial spirit began when he learned to fly while serving in the Air Force, whether he realized it at the time or not. After leaving the service, he received all of his civilian ratings to fly. With all his knowledge about planes, Stone chose to open his first business as a fixed-based operation, which is basically a gas station for planes, at a small airport in Colorado. While it was a fun business overall, it was challenging dealing with city and county government. This experience taught him lessons he’d use throughout his life.

Stone’s first franchise was in the hair industry. After selling the business in 2000, he was interested in purchasing another business. “I had an opportunity to talk to someone in Dallas, Texas about a mobile pet grooming business that wanted to expand and start franchising,” Stone said. Instead of getting involved in an expansion, he wound up buying the business. The mobile grooming business has grown significantly and operates over 50 mobile grooming salons in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

As time went on, Stone continued to search for a complementary business to purchase. “I knew one of the founders of Pet Butler,” he said. “I watched the business as it grew and franchised.” Once the Dallas/Fort Worth market opened, he jumped at the chance to diversify by adding a Pet Butler franchise to his current business model. “It was easy for me to add on because they had processes in place,” he said. “It was a great way to enter another phase of the pet specialty services group.” Stone was able to keep his focus the same; delivering services to people’s homes or offices for their pets. He has a full-time manager and six scoopers, four having been a part of his organization for more than 10 years.

Learn how Pet Butler put Don on the road to success by viewing his video or reading his owner profile.