When Derek and Maureen Paulk finished their military duty, they began looking for a franchise opportunity. A military job fair led them to The Dwyer Group. And The Dwyer Group’s values and veteran program inspired them to become a franchisee of The Grounds Guys, a subsidiary of The Dwyer Group.
“It was definitely the people of The Grounds Guys that we liked the most,” says Derek Paulk. “It was their code of values and their customer service that helped us make the decision. They put an emphasis on taking care of people.”
Paulk and his wife knew they’d have to “start from scratch” with whatever they did, so working with people who shared their deepest values was even more important to them than the business itself. “We didn’t get into comparing how much equipment one franchise required versus another or comparing other details like that,” says Paulk. “For us, it really came down to the people and the values. Those were the deciding factors.”
But having grown up on a ranch in Colorado, Paulk says he definitely liked the idea of doing landscaping work. Following high school, Paulk went directly into the Air Force Academy and has been part of the military ever since. “I did engineering for my first assignment and then flew fighters and was also an instructor,” he says.
Paulk’s wife, Maureen, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, also has a military background. She flew helicopters for the Army and now is on Air Force reserve duty. The couple met while they were contractors in Iraq, and the rest is history.
As veterans, the Paulks qualified for the VetFran Program. The program is supported by the International Franchise Association (IFA), which gives U.S. military veterans discounts toward the purchase of a franchise. As an active participant in the VetFran Program, The Grounds Guys offers a 25% discount on the initial base territory purchase for honorably discharged military veterans.
“That was a substantial amount and the discount made our decision even easier,” admits Paulk. “We already really liked the company and they were also making the upfront cost affordable for us.”
Paulk says being a new business owner is a challenge but the support they’ve received from corporate has helped. “They have all the systems already in place,” he says. “We feel like we’ve gotten a lot of the support we needed to get started.”
Maureen feels that same support. “The foundation of a ‘Culture of Care’ (The Grounds Guys’ motto) has been a launching pad for every element of this business,” she says. “We’ve really taken that to heart.”
And though the couple didn’t come from a business background, they say their military background has helped them. “Having been in the military and contracting for most of our lives there was obviously a learning curve of running the business, hiring the personnel, and even the finance side, all of which take a lot of time on their own,” says Derek. “But our military background has helped us with things like scheduling and operations. And The Grounds Guys has helped us
with the other parts. As part of the system, The Grounds Guys also supplies us with a daily checklist, which is good for us with our military background. We’re used to operating that way and we follow that checklist to a tee.”
He says that anyone considering a franchise should follow their instincts and feel comfortable with the people they’re going to be working with. “For me, it really does come down to the people,” Paulk says. “In the military, you’re working with good people — they’re hard working, trustworthy and reliable. So those are the things I look for. We think the culture of The Grounds Guys is really great and the people we’re working with exemplify those values. In the end, you get to build a culture — not just run a business — and that’s something that was really important to us.”
Photo: The Grounds Guys
