Success Found in Starting Over: Laura Spaulding

by Johanna Selmeczy, Staff Writer

If there’s one thing Laura Spaulding knows, it’s overcoming hardship. From her military discharge after being outed during “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” to having to work her way through college after being ostracized by her family, to being denied business loans solely because she was a woman, Spaulding has faced a seemingly endless series of trials and tribulations. In spite of these struggles, she has built a successful life for herself as the Founder and CEO of Spaulding Decon, a crime scene cleanup business that has grown to 47 units over the course of six years.

Entering the Franchising Space

Spaulding has dealt with starting from square one multiple times in her life. After being ousted from the military, she spent seven years in law enforcement, where she realized there was a need for a professional cleaning service for crime scenes. The task wasn’t something the police had to deal with, but she knew that she was fully capable of starting a business to do that work.

Unfortunately, Spaulding quickly found that money was an issue when it came to getting her business off the ground. She bootstrapped her way into Spaulding Decon, and when it came time for growth, she realized that without the same funding her male counterparts were able to access, she would have to utilize the franchise model in order to find success.

“The problem was that no one was offering me any money to do it,” Spaulding said. “So, I had to grow with other people’s money, which meant franchising.”

A Rocky Start

At the beginning of Spaulding’s franchising journey, she encountered a common challenge experienced by franchisors: finding the right franchisees.

“Yeah, I think that the most difficult part for new franchisors is the fact that they don’t have a playbook to see what the best franchisee is, the best type of character and person for (their) brand,” Spaulding said. “And I’ve heard from many, many (franchisors) that you’re so excited for the first dozen, but then by year two you can’t wait to get rid of that first dozen because you realize they were all mistakes.”

“ We change a lot, we evolve, and I just didn’t view it negatively at all

Some mistakes can burn more painfully than others, a lesson Spaulding learned quickly after dealing with franchisees who openly stole money from the brand, an obviously terminable offense. After being terminated, however, some former franchisees created competing brands in the same region to threaten Spaulding Decon’s locations, even if a noncompete clause was included in the franchise agreement.

“Then the problem is, you have states like Georgia where even if you have a noncompete, you can’t enforce it. So, then they’re going to start to compete against your future franchisees that take that spot,” Spaulding said. “I don’t know anybody who hasn’t made a mistake in hiring.”

Spaulding has had to juggle making corporate decisions focused on the betterment of the brand as a whole and listening to complaints from franchisees about their local issues. She describes organizing biweekly calls with franchisees to inform them of corporate decisions and being shocked by the way the franchisees thought that the matter was up for debate.

“This is not a democracy. This is what we’re doing for the greater good of the brand, and we’re just letting you know about it,” Spaulding said. “And it’s really weird how they think that because they’re part of a franchise, that means that this is a democracy.”

Regrets and Advice

Looking back on her hiring mistakes, Spaulding wishes she had invested in a third-party company that specialized in franchisee vetting to avoid franchisees who didn’t align with her values and goals.

“They know exactly what they’re doing. They know what they’re looking for. They know the red flags. They could’ve helped me avoid all these mistakes in development,” Spaulding said. “So, I am just kicking myself in the ass that we didn’t do this six years ago when I started.

“So, my advice to a brand-new franchisor would be: Listen, you don’t know what you don’t know. You need to hire people that know that, and if you use a third-party company that specializes in this, they’re compensated when they sell territories so it’s not like you’re out a ton of money. And this will teach you, at the same time, and hopefully, you’ll avoid the mistakes.”

When it comes to hiring a third-party company for selling territories to competent franchisees, Spaulding warns against companies that seek equity in the company as a whole in exchange for their services.

“I would say avoid the companies that want equity in your business and go with the companies that just take a portion of the territory fee,” Spaulding said. “Because then you’re not strapped, if you grow into some gigantic company then you didn’t just give away all your equity… I’d rather pay them for performance.”

Another piece of advice Spaulding offers is to be flexible about whom you’re working with. Just because someone has filled the same role for over a decade doesn’t mean they could be better suited for another role or no longer fit with what the company has become.

“But as you grow, you’re going to outgrow people,” Spauld- ing said. “Just like even if you’re dating someone, you know when you date someone in your twenties, you guys might not be aligned when you’re thirty. You might outgrow that person. We change a lot, we evolve, and I just didn’t view it negatively at all.”

When it comes to communicating with franchisees, Spaulding’s strategy is to create a layer of management who can filter what needs to be addressed by her and what can be addressed by others. She has learned that it can be distracting from the big picture of successfully growing the business if she gets caught up in the day-to-day.

“To be honest, another thing that I’ve learned too is that layers of management between me as the CEO and the franchisees helps me to keep my eye on the prize and not get off track with the vision and the goals,” Spaulding said. “I can pay people to manage day-to-day issues…so it doesn’t disrupt my momentum. I want to focus on the bigger things.”

Lessons Learned and Future Plans

Looking back on her experience thus far in franchising, Spaulding has come a long way. Her mistakes have become lessons, and her advice is backed by decades of experience in the field.

“I’ve learned how to hire, how to vet people, even though that’s not an exact science,” Spaulding said. “But it’s just kind of a new business and I learned and met new people. It just opened my eyes to a world and other people that I never would have had the chance to run into.”

Going forward, Spaulding is looking forward to hiring a third-party company to assist in the franchisee hiring process. She hopes to reach 100 locations in two years, which, with trustworthy franchisees, is a more than an attainable goal.

Where others may have given up when the going got tough, Spaulding stuck it out. For Spaulding, her personal work ethic is shaped by a determination to succeed in spite of everything stacked against her.

“I think it’s really defiance, honestly,” Spaulding said. “This sounds negative, but I feel like sometimes the odds are always against me. It’s always a battle, and I’m determined to win that battle, even if it’s a small battle. And I wish every single thing in business and in life wasn’t a battle, but it actually has been… I don’t view it as ‘woe is me’ I view it as ‘okay, this is another test, let’s see how we can handle it.’”

For Spaulding Decon, that philosophy has worked thus far, and the future looks very bright.

Social Media and Exposure

Boasting over 4 million followers and 37 million likes on TikTok, half a million followers on Instagram, and 51 million views on YouTube; Spaulding Decon is certainly a social media force. Posting videos of teams cleaning up gruesome scenes has garnered quite an audience for the brand. Spaulding herself has appeared on the brand’s social media pages, describing her experiences to millions of viewers.

Check out her social media below:

TikTok - https://www.tiktok. com/@crimescenecleaning

Instagram - https://www. instagram.com/crimescenecleaning/

YouTube - https://www.youtube. com/c/crimescenecleaning