From Taxes To Dogs: How This Top Franchise Owner Expanded Her Portfolio

Sue McCumsey, an owner of multiple franchises in the Baton Rouge area, saw an opportunity in the way franchises provide personal freedom, unlike other industries. For over 25 years, McCumsey has operated a block of Jackson Hewitt tax preparation service businesses. Recently, she has added Dogtopia to her portfolio.

The idea to buy into Dogtopia, a daycare, boarding and spa facility for dogs, occurred when McCumsey was looking for ways to improve her own dog, Bruno's, life when he became sick. "As I was researching for ways to help him, I stumbled upon Dogtopia. It sparked my interest. I Googled about the dog care industry, in particular, the daycare business, and realized that here I am facing a similar story that I faced 25 years ago, and there was only one other player nationally in the dog daycare business." "Twenty-five years ago," she states matter-of-factly, "I left a job that I'd been with for 12 years as the financial controller for a true entrepreneur that taught me a lot about the business world. When I left that company I realized I needed to get into my own business because I had been working independently at that job handling all the business affairs. I started thinking about service businesses. I wanted to get into a field I knew. I started looking at franchises because I knew franchises had a much better success rate than independent businesses." As she began researching, she came across the Jackson Hewitt franchise business model. What interested her the most was that there was only one other major tax player in the industry besides Jackson Hewitt.

"They [Jackson Hewitt] were emerging as the leader in electronic filing," explains McCumsey. "It interested me that there was no other player in that field." She thought it was a great ground-floor opportunity and bought into the franchise.

She opened up one location in South Baton Rouge. Five years later she merged with a larger company. Now McCumsey has 103 locations. Over the past decade, her company has consistently ranked either number one or two in the nation. "We were considered the largest franchise this year," McCumsey happily shares.

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