Julie - The Cat Butler Franchisee in Chichester

Introduction

• Your name and age: Julie Dunn, 60
• Name of your Cat Butler Territory: The Cat Butler Chichester
• When did you buy your The Cat Butler business? March 2023
• How long did it take you to break even (make back your initial investment)? 8 months
• What did you do before you owned your Cat Butler business? I was a programme manager for the NHS, and prior to that a radio presenter and producer.
• How many staff do you employ?  I work full-time for the business and I currently employ 2 part-time Cat Butlers (as of February 2025)

Q: Why did you decide to leave the NHS?

A: For many people, the Covid-19 pandemic was a watershed moment in their life and career.  I was one of those people.  Pre-Covid, I was working crazily hard but felt that what I was doing was making a real difference in people’s lives.  Post-COVID, I lost that sense of purpose and belief and knew it was time to do something completely different.

Q: What made you think about caring for cats?

A: I didn’t!  I mean, I’ve had cats all my adult life and have adored and cared for every single one of them, but that’s not a career, is it?

I was looking for a new direction.  I wanted to do something that I would enjoy; something that made me want to get up in the morning with a spring in my step; something that was worthwhile but that bore no resemblance to the corporate world I was used to.  I had no idea what that something would be.  

I had been chewing over a few ideas, and my brother suggested that I look into franchising - although he was thinking more about something in the business world that would use my existing Change Management skills and experience.  

Call it fate, call it coincidence, or call it Google’s scary algorithms, but within a couple of days of that conversation with my brother, a post about The Cat Butler looking for suitable franchisees showed up on my Facebook feed.  The penny dropped and you can’t fight gravity!

Q: Why did you decide to buy a The Cat Butler franchise rather than set up on your own?

A: Now, that was a no-brainer.  If truth be told, the daft little girl in me was attracted initially by the cute cartoon characters!  The adult businesswoman, on the other hand, saw an established business; a strongly identifiable brand; an excellent website; practical operational and marketing tools; core values which closely mirrored my own; and an opportunity to develop my own business within a supportive community of fellow professionals.

Q: How was the support setting up your The Cat Butler franchise?

A: The set-up package included everything I needed to get the project off the ground: face-to-face training (both for running the business and for cat care in general); operational software to make and keep track of bookings and the specific requirements of individual clients; branding paraphernalia such as signwriting for my car doors and branded clothing for me; my own local pages on the national The Cat Butler website; getting the business set up on Google so that potential clients could find me; and a local marketing campaign in the press, online and via a targeted leaflet drop.  All of the above would have been pretty daunting if I’d had to arrange them for myself from scratch, but with the support from the centre, it was actually a really exciting time - full on, but exciting!!! 

Q: Tell us about the training to become a Cat Butler

A: I had to travel to Hertfordshire to undertake the initial face-to-face training, which was a good thing for me.  It meant that I could focus solely on the training for a few intensive days without the distractions of everyday life getting in the way.  I trained with another newbie, Jane (The Cat Butler Radlett franchisee), and we had a mix of classroom learning to embed the principles and operational expectations; practical cat care and pet first aid training which was both informative and, at times quite bizarre (mouth-to-mouth resuscitation with a rubber dog!?!); and, of course, we got to shadow existing cat butlers whilst they were caring for their beautiful furry clients.  At the end of the training, I was desperate to get started…

Q: What has the support been like since you finished your training and returned home to set up your business?

A: The initial training gave me a really good platform from which to launch the business and I largely just get on with running it day to day.  However, it’s good to know that there is support available both from the central franchise team and also from my fellow franchisees.  Whether it be queries about the booking software or support to recruit staff, there is always someone there to help.  My own personal bête noir is social media, for which I have always had what I considered to be a healthy disdain, and now which I find I need to embrace as a central marketing forum for my business.  Aaagh!  Thank goodness for my supportive and tolerant The Cat Butler family!

Q: Ten months in, how is your business going? Are you busy? Are you making money?

A: The business is doing really well.  I’ve just come out of a busy Christmas period and was expecting a quiet January, but even in January, the business is purring along nicely.  

I am making money but have chosen to invest in making this a really sound business going forward.  In the early days of running a small business like this, it often makes sense to work like crazy and do everything yourself in an attempt to minimise costs until you’re turning a profit.  However, I discovered quite early on that that sort of approach wasn’t going to work for me and I needed to devise a different approach. 

Not that I’m averse to hard work - far from it - but franchise areas are determined by population numbers (i.e. numbers of potential customers) and mine covers a sizeable swathe of West Sussex.  What might work really well in a smaller, more densely populated patch, can be counter-productive when faced with the geography of my franchise area. I realised that it would be more financially sound to recruit someone to take on part of the patch whilst I focussed on the rest.  It was a difficult decision to make as I wasn’t yet even making enough profit to support myself, never mind another member of staff, but I knew it was the right thing to do. 

Fewer miles per visit equates to lower relative fuel costs, less time travelling, more time cat-sitting, more cat-sitting capacity, more turnover and eventually more profits.  I still work really hard, but now, with the support of my lovely cat butlers, Jane and Keith, the business is working much smarter.

Q: What advice would you give to anyone thinking of buying a The Cat Butler Franchise?

1. Do your homework.  This isn’t a job, it’s a business.  Can you afford the upfront fees?  Can you afford to support yourself whilst the business is establishing itself?  Is your family on board?  Are you prepared to work long hours to make your business work?  Are you prepared to work particularly hard on high days and holidays when others are off enjoying themselves and demand is going to be at its highest?  Understand that you’ll be the chief cook and bottle washer - not just undertaking cat visits but doing the accounts, managing the business, recruiting staff, and all the time relentlessly marketing your business.

2. Be flexible.  You will be provided with a blueprint for success but it is up to you to recognise and analyse what works and doesn’t work in your specific circumstances, and to act accordingly.

3. Get help.  Whether it be asking for support from family and friends, picking the brains of fellow Cat Butlers, or taking on staff sooner than your balance sheet tells you you ought to - you don’t need to do this on your own.

4. Establish and maintain high standards.  Your reputation is everything.

5. Enjoy yourself.  You’re doing this because you love cats and you want to run your own business, right?  No point in doing it if you don’t lift your head up and enjoy what you’re doing.