Heroes in Business - Dina Dwyer-Owens Co Chair of Dwyer Group is comprised of the well known brands of Molly Maids, Mr Rooter, 5 Star Painting and more.

Episode Date: April 19, 2024

Dina Dwyer-Owens Co Chair of Dwyer Group is interviewed by David Cogan of Eliances Heroes radio show amfm. Dwyer Group is comprised of the well known brands of Molly Maids, Mr Rooter, 5 Star Painting and more. She talks about her book on Values which she created initially as an initiative at her company. Dwyer-Owens also tells David about the experience of being on the hit TV series Undercover Boss.

Welcome back to Alliances Heroes, where heroes in business align. To be part of our super community and find out more about Alliances, visit www.alliances.com. Now, back to our super host, David Kogan, founder of Alliances. What an amazing morning. That's right. It's all about heroes. These are ones that are building their community. These are ones that are making a difference. They're expanding companies. They are bringing joy to somebody's life. They may be creating jobs, but they are making their impact in the community, in society. And we just had the CEO chairman of the world's largest racing and driving school. That's right.

Skip Barber Racing School. We'll be ending the interview with the legendary icon of luxury automotive design. You certainly should know his name, Henry Fisker. He's the one that designed the Ashton Martin, BMW Fisker, Viking motorcycle, and so much more. Ashton Martin, BMW Fisker, Viking Motorcycle, and so much more. But our next hero, you could listen real carefully because you're going to be absolutely amazed. And she's got so much to share with us because it is hero time again. And I want you to just imagine what it must be like being the co-chair of a billion dollar business. That's right, billion-dollar business, creating some of the most well-known household brands that most all of us have heard of. And our next hero is Dina Dwyer-Owens. She is the co-chairman of Dwyer Group, and you can reach her at dwyergroup.com.

Dina, I want you to take the thunder and share with us the brands that are under DwyerGroup.com. Okay, I'm going to have to count them on my fingers so I don't miss any super days. Or a couple, a couple of them. We've got Rainbow International, which is a restoration and cleaning company, Mr. Reuter, plumbing and drain cleaning. plumbing and drain cleaning. We have Mr. Electric, Mr. Appliance, AirServe Heating and Air Conditioning, The Glass Doctor, The Grounds Guys, Five Star Painting, Molly Maid, Mr. Handyman, ProTech Painters, Locatech, and several others in other countries. Dina, I'm sorry that I asked. We could do a whole show just on the brands that are under you. By the way, you know, I've used, could do a whole show just on the brands that are under you.

By the way, you know, I've used, too, a number of your brands. How did you get involved in the business? My father actually founded the company, Dave, in 1981 with a vision of having a collection of franchise companies, companies serving the same customer base. But his mission was to really teach us principles and systems of both personal and business success so that all people he touched will live happier, more successful lives. So I got into it because I bought into the vision of netting it out. It's helping people have a better quality of life. We just happen to use franchising as the vehicle to do that. Now, what was your

first role, though, in the family business? First thing that you did, got involved with? Working at the car wash. I shouldn't sing, but I started a car wash that my father owned when I was 12 years old. So you start, so, I mean, did you ever imagine, 12 years old, here you are, washing cars, working there, and then to eventually move on up, up, up, up to being the co-chair of this gigantic conglomerate business? Did you ever think that? Well, my father was somebody who really believed in his children and had us listen to positive motivational tape programs. So he kept feeding positive information into our minds that we are winners, we are champions, we can do whatever we set our mind to do if we're willing to work hard enough.

So I'm not sure that I ever envisioned that I would be leading this company one day. I was a CEO for over 15 years and now co-chairing the company. But I always knew that I'd be involved in helping other people. So that's something I always dreamt of doing. I'd be involved in helping other people. So that's something I always dreamt of doing. And we're speaking here with the co-chairman of DwyerGroup.com, Dina Dwyer-Owens. I mean, these are all the brands everybody knows, Mr. Electric, Mr. Handyman, Mr. Reuter.

Molly made the list just goes on and on and on. And you're clearly, clearly very close with your father. What maybe can you point out two to three of the most important secrets maybe that he shared with you to be so successful? Number one, always be a student of leadership. And all your listeners are leaders. If you're influencing anybody, you're a leader. But always be a student of leadership and re-earn your position every day. So you can celebrate the victories of the past and learn from the mistakes and lessons. But today, be the best you can be in serving your customers,

whomever those people may be. Surround yourself with people that are smarter than you are. It's a big lesson I learned as a child, and I didn't realize it was going to be a big lesson until I grew up and thought, oh, my gosh, I'm only good at a few things, and I've got to surround myself with people that are so much better than I am. My CEO today, for example, Mike Bidwell, been with the company for 32 years. for example, Mike Bidwell. Been with the

company for 32 years. Thank God for Mike Bidwell. He's doing an amazing job taking the company to the next level. So those are the two key things. And I've got to tell you something my mother taught me, and that's to always keep my faith, that having that trust and confidence in God really holds it together for me when times are tough. Absolutely incredible advice. And are you a hero in business? Make sure you go to alliances.com. That's the place where entrepreneurs align. And you can go there by going to E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com.

And we're talking with the co-chairman of DwyerGroup.com, Dina Dwyer Owens. It's only an over $2 billion company. That's with a B, billion. And you also, I think, Tina, something that, I mean, quite honestly, I would be extremely nervous about would be being on Undercover Boss TV Show, which is really putting it out on the line as many things about your business and you are showed to millions upon millions of viewers. What do you think was the biggest takeaway from you from being on Undercover Boss TV show? First of all, I should state that we're not quite at $2 billion yet, but we are certainly working hard to get there.

We're about $1.4 right now. Secondly, I'm sorry, after the show you'll be at $2 billion. After the show we'll get you at $2 billion. We hope so. We're looking for great franchisees. If anybody's interested in their own business, we'd love to hear from them. The Undercover Boss Show was a wonderful opportunity to tell you the truth, though. They did not come to me, David, to ask that I be on the show. We actually knocked on their door. In life, when you want something and you think there's going to be

value created, you've got to do your homework and then you've got to go for it. So we actually approached them, and they didn't know who the Dwyer Group was. We haven't branded that name at a consumer level. We've branded Mr. Reuter and Mr. Appliance and the Glass Doctor. But we felt we had an opportunity. For one, I was a woman and they were needing more female CEOs on the show. Number two, none of the bosses that had been on in the past are actually, two out of 36 episodes where they even talked about their core values. And my mission for going undercover was to find out were the Dwyer Group's core values actually making it to the front line. So was it a little scary? Yes.

But the truth is, I knew that the worst that can happen by going undercover, we found something out about the company that wasn't good, that we would use our code of values to fix the problem. I mean, that's a great learning experience. And then not only that, not only are you doing all these things, but you're also an author. You're a motivational speaker. What are some of the books that you have written? My most recent book is called Values, Inc., I-N-C, How Incorpor into business and life can change the world. And this book's for anybody, whether you're a mother listening to this show or you're

the CEO of a for-profit organization, because the world is lacking for values-based leadership. And the Dwyer Group did not create values-based leadership. We just created a great system for how to make sure that those values stay alive in business. And as a franchise company, it makes sense that we would create a system around it, because 95% of the companies in North America that have written values do nothing with them once they're written. And it's a real shame, David, they're really missing an opportunity. And I don't think they're not following through on their values, because they don't want to. I think they just haven't figured

out that they've got to create a system so those values are front and center every day in their business. And you also have Live Rich, right? That's another one of your books, correct? Yes. And that reached, right, at the top 10 business books, 2015 by Forbes? It was Values, Inc. that made the top 10 on Forbes list for 2015. And Live Rich was my original book that was meant for internal purposes. Our company was growing so rapidly. I had to find a way to make sure that our new team members, our new franchisees knew how important our core values were, because the rich actually is the acronym for our values of respect, integrity, customer focus, and having fun in the process, which I know you love to have

fun, but so do I. Life's too short not to enjoy what you're doing. It is. So Leverage was written for that purpose, and it lives on. We've got less than 30 seconds left, but I've got to ask you, many of our listeners have children. What's two secrets that you could share about how to raise successful children, perhaps particularly as it relates to raising daughters to be successful in the business world? Make sure that they know you believe in them and give them positive information. The world's full of negative information. Make sure that you are surrounding them

with positive information and leadership information. That can be through downloads that you do online where they can hear great stories of people who are successful that are even young, but feed them great information about who they are and who they can be. Absolutely incredible. And that's right. A hero is one that looks beyond business, beyond themselves,

one that looks to enrich the lives of others. And as our hero, Dina Dwyer-Owens from DwyerGroup.com says, we are not alone in our pursuit to do the right thing. David Kogan with the Alliances. And when we return, we're going to have Henrik Fisker. That's right, the legendary icon automotive design who created and designed BMW, Viking motorcycle, Ashton Martin, and so much more.