From Zero Experience to Owning a Dog Training Facility | CCU Inside Scoop

There's still the peace of and the fear of making it or not making it, you know, and that's the reality of business, right? If we look statistically how many businesses make it or not make it, we take all the steps possible to be successful in what we're doing in one venture or another, but there's still always those possibilities. So I'm here with Keely Hill. She's the newest owner of the Custom Camo Unlimited Columbus location, which is located in Columbus, Georgia. Just want to have a conversation with her, candid conversation. With her about why she chose to open up a CCU location. Now I'm going to lay a little bit of foundation for everybody first, right? Because you gotta realize Keeley's highly educated. She's got at least 2 degrees, 2 degrees. She's been training for a couple years now and came from a background of non-law enforcement non-military, took on this role as an apprentice, and now she's at the end of that term. And she— no convincing, right? Nobody held a gun to your head or something like that— decided to open up, forego all those possibilities and dreams that she had leading into this. I remember talking to you Early on in asking you kind of what your plan was when you left here, and you were hoping to network with some law enforcement while you worked here, and then getting to the point, you know, as we getting closer to exit time, and you know, that kind of changed. And it was, to me, it was surprising. So why did you make that decision? And I guess it was surprising because, I mean, you You attended school the entire time while you were here, and while you attended school, you're doing the apprenticeship, which also includes testing and studying and the workload as well. Uh, and I mean studying for her trainer cert, studying for her Kennel Master stuff, and, uh, everything in between there. And then having to learn how to teach classes and learn all the curriculums and all that, that you had to do. I remember us being in one of our last trips at the MWD and you were in finals week.

It was, yeah, it was awful.

And of course me telling her, yeah, you got to teach, which means you got to study and make sure you're prepared for the class because you're teaching a class you've never taught before. And I know you hate that.

You got to take finals and all that stuff too.

What kind of words did you use to describe me then?

Describe you then?

Yeah, challenging, probably. Okay, so what was the conversation you had with your mom like? This butthole's making me— no, he don't care about me. He knows I got finals and he's still making me study and get ready for my classes. I can imagine that conversation. All right, but why did you make the decision to become an owner of business? You know, run a business?

Like, that's Honestly, like, it's, it's definitely something that even I didn't imagine happening. You know, I think the biggest thing, especially about being here, is like, you guys are family. And coming up at the end of my 2 years, it was like, dang, I'm like, there's no way I could leave. You know, like, you guys have been a big part of my life and of my journey as a dog trainer, as a person. Professionally and personally, you guys have helped me out so much. So, you know, it was kind of like, how do I give back?

Yeah.

And I think the biggest way for me to give back is to, one, continue pursuing my passion in dog training, but to also extend out that facility and create more growth and opportunities for everybody.

Okay. I mean, I like the, you know, their approach, but there's still the peace of— and the fear of making it or not making it, you know. And that's the reality of business, right? If we look statistically how many businesses make it or not make it, we take all the steps possible to be successful in what we're doing in one venture or another, but there's still always those possibilities. And still through that 'Cause I've spent time with you trying to like, I wouldn't say talk you out of it, but really give you the reality of what it takes to run a business. And you know, we've spent time together traveling, training, and then me having to work and, you know, run a business on top of training and, you know, not having time. And so I, you know, you're in that unique perspective where you got to see some of that too and you still want to do this.

I do. Okay. I think, I think that too, like, as a, as a young female especially that's new in this industry, being able to like look up to you guys, like look up to Simon as a head trainer, and then those experiences that I had with you and those trips, being able to look up to you as a business owner and a CEO and all that kind of stuff, kind of just cherry on top helped me just like, I wanna be that kind of person one day that someone else can look up to as well.

That's nice. I think that's great. Well, as always, I wish you the best and I know we're gonna be successful. You had me on your team, so you know, when we have us, we don't lose. You don't, you know, if we gotta, doesn't matter. We put our head down and we drive forward. Like that's, that's what the name of the game is. And You know, just not quitting. It's not gonna be easy. Bumps in the road. But I think the, the reality of it is that you're going into a system that's already running and we're just gonna pick it up and put it here. You got support. I think that's why I feel more, most comfortable with it because you're so close to us. I think it's easy to make a transition with somebody or a transaction with somebody that's just buying in, right? But that's not what we're looking for with CCU ownership. We're looking for those that are see the same thing, know what we're about, like know us intimately. That's why we have some of the requirements we do in place for this. But also, you know, knowing that, you know, our heart is in it as much as your heart is, and wanting to see that success all the way through. Which leads me into the reason why I feel so comfortable about this, because your family You've been around us. We've spent time at the girls' soccer games together. Like, you're not somebody that's just been over here kind of, you know, working dogs and stuff. But I'm 100% confident in selling you this and letting you take this step because not only do I know your determination and all that, but I also know that what we have in place to support you and see that and realize that growth, um, is like— I feel so comfortable about that now. And, you know, a year ago when this idea came up and us trying to work out the planning for this and investing for attorneys and all this stuff to come up with this plan, it's a little bit nerve-wracking because, listen, you're trusting us too. And, you know, we don't want to let you down because you're close to us.

Yeah.

But I always say, if you feel good with it in your heart, it's the right thing to do. And I haven't lost a minute of sleep through this whole process. I haven't felt like, oh, you know, I've had that feeling of, I just don't know, but we're gonna do it because she's gonna pay, you know, type of deal. It's always been like, even the conversations I've had with my wife, like, yes, I'm excited about it. Yes, it meets all, checks all the boxes. Yes, we have good ownership, but on top of that, I just feel good about what we're doing as a whole. And I think that's the most settling thing for me. And anytime I'm settled with, with decisions, they always come out to be the best decisions 100% of the time.

Yeah.

Not to say it's always good times, it's just when you look back, you're like, yeah, it was the right decision.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. Today happens to be signing day, so we got that out of the way. I think I was more nervous than anybody else here about it. Um, I just signed my life away to Keely, uh, per se. I will say this, it feels like I'm releasing my kid to Keely now. Um, and because of that, I'm having a conversation with you because I kind of want people to, to see and have an in-depth look at what it really took you to get to this point. Yeah, and yes, we have some things that we planned for all the location and everybody that we decide to move forward on with the location, and there's some fail-safes in there on the type of person, people that we want, um, what kind of background they need to have and type of experience they need to have to do this. But I thought it was important for people to understand that you just didn't have money and go, here, I want to pay, and now let's go ahead and start this location, right? This was a process that started a couple years ago. And not to say that that's the length of time it takes for everybody, um, but before you came to this decision, you had another path you were going. You just wanted to learn how to train dogs. And then we get to, you know, just a few months ago when this apprenticeship program is ending And then now you got to make a decision. Do I move on to my next career with law enforcement or do I— and I know there was a couple of MWD programs that were trying to recruit Keely and I was, you know, I got into a couple fights because of it and I'm like, y'all better leave her alone. They're like, no, she'll be a great soldier. We need her at our kennel. No, you're not getting her. But anyway, but then we get to this point where, hey, we got to start making decisions. We gotta either plan for your exit, which we would 100% support. Yeah, we probably would have all been crying, crying, including me, and I don't get emotional unless it's family. And then secondly, we, we would have like been kicking ourselves in the butt because we're like, what could we have done to keep Keely? And because you've been a— even as an apprentice, this is what's so wild, and not I'm gonna tell this real quick. We had a client one time that didn't wanna work with Keeley 'cause she was listed as an apprentice, right? And so just so to give you guys a little bit of a background, like, and Simon and I talked about this and I was like, you know, Keeley's better than 90% of our trainers, right? She's got more experience, well-rounded experience, you know, and, your approach to training, you're very grounded in behavior and all that other stuff, right? Techniques. But I was like, you know, Simon, should we just— I mean, she's there. And Simon, to his credit— I hate giving this joker credit— to his credit, he was like, no, she's got to go through the whole program, period. That includes the amount of time. But I also, in the back of my head, was thinking, I know some clients like see apprentice apprentice on your business cards and on, you know, that, uh, on the website. Oh, you know, she's just in training, but that's, it's really not the case, right? Like, um, so, and I remember having a client saying, oh, I don't want to work with her because she's just an apprentice. And Simon ended up having to take the client because of that. And it's just funny No, and I don't blame the client, and that's not what I'm saying, because she's only— she only knows what she knows. And but there was that stigma. And even I think for you too, because we stepped into some kennels that has a lot of experience working dogs and, you know, being in the military for a number of years, and you're stepping in as an apprentice, and we never once told anybody, oh, she's a trainer. We never— we always disclose you're an apprentice, right? And that could also have a stigma on you. Yeah, to some degree, right? And Solomon and I talked about is you got to step in and win these people over, and them knowing I'm just an apprentice.

Yeah, yeah, it's been hard, especially that part. You know, I think the The journey itself is like a big portion of like how I got here. So coming in, working as a manager at QuikTrip, and then I got a dog.

Are we allowed to say QuikTrip? Is QuikTrip promoting us? Do we get free gas at QuikTrip if we give them some clicks? I just want to know. We have to bleep that out. I'm giving shit away for free.

But being a manager in a completely different field, then one day I get a dog and then start coming here twice a week for I don't know how long, 2 months maybe.

Yeah.

And then bam, apprenticeship. That is just like, I can tell you how fast I fell in love with just working dogs, learning how to work dogs. Um, but like overall kind of fighting that battle of, oh, she's just a young female, she's just an apprentice, she just started, you know. So I think the biggest Part of it is like building up my confidence, which you guys did amazing at, like helping me build up my confidence and helping me understand like, hey, I do know what I'm talking about. I have all this experience working dogs. I put my hands on a leash on so many different dogs. I probably couldn't even count 'em at this point. So just like getting that experience and gaining that respect and You know, having people understand like, hey, I do, I do know what I'm doing and I can help you and you can listen to me because I'm going to lead you in the right direction.

Yeah. And even if you couldn't, you knew the resources you could go to, right? To make sure that the success was there.

Right.

It wasn't just, okay, here's a dog, I'll try what I can try.

Right.

Um, I think that's the discernment too, you know, that all trainers have is the fact that you know that you're never alone. You always have other resources and other people to bounce things off of. Yeah, that's great too.

Yeah, like, I, I will say, like, in the very beginning of my apprenticeship, I think me and Brandon were really— that's why we got so close, because if he had a problem with one dog, he would come to me, and then I'd bounce back ideas to him. If I had a problem with a dog, I'd go to him, we'd bounce back ideas, and if neither of us could figure it out, we got something.

Yeah. So I mean, how was it to have two scary trainers together? Does that cancel that out between you and Brandon?

What? What you trying to say? I'm scared?

No, man.

Are you talking about Simon? You're just wearing white gloves, boss.

That is true. That is true. We, we do got that. Uh, no, I, you know, I think, and I, I think about that from a training standpoint on where I would be if I didn't have resources or trusted people that I could always talk to. Because you're well grounded, you know behavior, you know, you know, the technical side of what we do. But training is also as, as much an art as it is a science, I say, because it's how we mix the potions sometimes to achieve the results that we— and everybody has a little bit of a different mixture.

Yeah.

To get to the end result.

Yeah.

And sometimes this mixture is just not working, so let me get somebody else's perspective to get to that.

Yeah.

So you started off, let's say, 2 and a half years ago or so, um, no experience. You enter this program, uh, what were your goals or what was your thought process on why you entered the program in the beginning, like, what were you thinking? You were in school and I know you were going to be law enforcement, so you have a degree, you have a couple degrees I know now, but at the time you were in the, um, what was it, the management? No, no, I'm talking about in college, criminal justice, in your criminal justice degree. Yeah, that's right. I'm getting old, so, uh, that's how it is sometimes when you get old.