Jerry Flanagan by no means dreamed his veteran-owned and operated junk removing enterprise would make it to the small display.
However that’s occurring on Sunday, Oct. 10, when Discovery and American Heroes Channels start airing actuality present Operation Hidden Treasuries, produced by veteran TV producer Jim Milio. Amongst different notable packages, the Emmy-nominated Milio had a hand in Canine Whisperer for Nationwide Geographic, Founding Fathers for the Historical past Channel, and The Actual Las Vegas for A&E.
“Jim Milio heard about what we’re doing, placing veterans into enterprise possession by our franchises, and the way we do junk removing and clear outs in an environmental method, as a substitute of simply placing stuff in landfill,” mentioned Flanagan, a Philadelphia native, Military veteran and JDog’s founder.
It makes for compelling TV — American Pickers meets Storage Wars — however with a better goal: JDog franchises are bought to and operated by veterans of the armed companies and their households.
After one of many pandemic’s reopenings, filming completed in Might. Ten episodes will air between October and December, Sundays at 8 a.m. on Discovery and Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. on the American Heroes Channel.
“It ought to attain as many as 86 million viewers, and our hope is all these eyes on JDog will assist rent veterans and promote extra franchises,” Flanagan mentioned.
Two franchises — one in Lancaster, Pa., and one other in Austin, Texas — seem within the collection.
Based by Flanagan and his spouse, Tracy, JDog Junk Elimination started with two Philadelphia-area franchises in 2012 and has grown to greater than 240 energetic franchises nationwide. Headquartered in Berwyn, the unique firm employs 17 individuals.
Producer Jim Milio mentioned the corporate’s observe of normal donations and recycling executed is what intrigued him as a feel-good story.
“They donate furnishings or toys to hospitals and the aged. They don’t receives a commission for that. That’s on their very own time. They use the navy values ehether or not our cameras had been there, and that’s cool to indicate what they do,” Milio mentioned.
“Through the pandemic we had been an important enterprise, so we truly grew tremendously throughout that point,” including 80 franchises, he mentioned. The price for opening a brand new franchise features a $45,000 franchise charge and an extra funding of $50,000 to $100,000, Flanagan mentioned. He and his spouse personal 60% of the mother or father firm, a controlling stake, and outdoors traders, together with a personal fairness agency, personal 40% of JDog.
JDog as franchisor expects $5 million in income this yr, and goals to promote an extra 80 to 100 new franchises subsequent yr.
The corporate competes with 1-800-GOT-JUNK and Faculty Hunks, however with that veteran focus.
JDog additionally launched JDog Carpet Cleansing and Ground Care up to now yr, and presently has bought 17 of these franchises. Franchise charges complete $25,000 plus an analogous funding because the junk removing.
Flanagan mentioned that among the many challenges going through the corporate is discovering staff.
“It is rather arduous to search out workers. We and our franchisees need to pay extra money hourly to draw individuals,” he mentioned, including that the common hourly wage at a JDog franchise is $13 to $18 an hour relying on the town. JDog hires from sources together with GI Jobs and Orion Expertise. As a result of struggle in Afghanistan, 20,000 vets had been “getting out of the service yearly for the previous 5 years,” he mentioned.
For returning veterans looking for contracting alternatives, take a look at databases run by the Nationwide Veteran Owned Enterprise Affiliation (https://navoba.org/) and VetBiz.va.gov, compiled by the Veterans Administration. Their web sites will not be full however provide a place to begin.
ID playing cards, for vets beginning companies or looking for work, might be obtained by the Pennsylvania Division of Army and Veterans Affairs, www.dmva.pa.gov, and thru particular person New Jersey counties.
