Sharon Connell took over Jim's Dog Wash with 54 franchisees and a broken culture.

Today the division has 223 franchisees and Sharon's goal is to reach 1,000, with enough unserviced work across Australia to support every one of them.

Sharon sits down with Joel for a full breakdown of what a Jim's Dog Wash franchise actually looks like in 2026.

She walks through her own journey from cleaning franchisee to Hall of Fame divisional franchisor, what she did to fix the culture and unlock growth, and why she's confident the division has years of expansion ahead of it.

The conversation covers everything a prospect needs to know: the two-week one-on-one grooming training plus a six-month online academy subscription, the fully air-conditioned and insulated trailers, the flat fee model that doesn't change whether you do 2 dogs a day or 12, the lead fee structure for franchisees who don't want to do their own marketing, and the social media freedom that lets franchisees like Anton in Melbourne go viral on TikTok pulling thousands of viewers into the brand.

Sharon also explains who actually suits the business (people who like dogs but don't love them so much they can't run a business), what the real costs are (the biggest expense is your time, not your supplies), and how the network of franchisees swap big dogs and small dogs between each other so everyone wins.

She also shares the story of a brand new franchisee who used the included pet first aid training to revive a dog that had passed away on the table.

If you're researching Jim's Dog Wash or thinking about leaving your job for a hands-on outdoor business with animals, this is the full picture from the person who runs the division.

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Sharon's story and induction into the Jim's Hall of Fame
1:18 How the division grew from 54 to 223 franchisees
2:35 Why every Jim's Dog Wash region has unserviced work
3:14 How franchisees actually generate leads
5:09 Why mobile beats salon for the customer and the dog
6:42 Can anyone actually be trained to groom dogs
8:42 Inside the fully air-conditioned Jim's Dog Wash trailer
9:53 Who suits this business (and the trap of loving dogs too much)
11:00 What a typical week looks like for a Jim's Dog Wash franchisee
11:37 The flat fee model: 1 trailer, 3 trailers, fee never changes
12:42 Lead fees explained and how to choose your own marketing approach
13:45 The social media freedom that's changing the brand
17:31 What income a new franchisee can realistically expect
19:23 Why doing it independently takes 12 months to match 2 months in Jim's
21:18 The real costs of running a Jim's Dog Wash trailer
22:23 The support system for new franchisees in the first 3 months
24:03 What's actually included when you buy the franchise
26:08 The kind of people joining Jim's Dog Wash from every background
27:14 What if the dog bites me and how training reduces the risk
28:09 The pet first aid story that saved a dog's life
28:33 Why you can specialise in big dogs or small dogs
32:39 The Google review competition and a $400 set of clippers
33:00 How Sharon scaled the division by focusing on franchisee happiness

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Jim’s Group is Australia and New Zealand’s largest home services brand with over 580 divisions. Our franchisees complete 5 million+ jobs every year.

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