12/18/24 - 2073: The CEO and the CSO

Jim: You've tuned in to iWork4Him, the voice of collaboration for the faith and work movement.

Martha: And we are your hosts, Jim and Martha Brangenberg, and our mission is to transform the workplace of every Christian into a mission field. What could that look like in your workplace? Let's find out right now.

Jim: I think the famous statement goes something like this. Franchising ain't for sissies. In the Dwyer family from Waco, Texas, franchising is in the blood. About nine years ago, we interviewed Dina Dwyer Owens about her Undercover Boss episode and how the Dwyer group was franchising for Jesus.

Now, nine years later, we meet Brother Doug, who bought out a piece of the family franchising group and has taken franchising for Jesus to a whole nother level in DreamMaker Bath and Kitchen please welcome CSO of DreamMaker bath and Kitchen, Doug Dwyer to iWork4Him. Hey Doug. How are you?

Doug Dwyer: Good to be with you.

Jim: CSO. Doug, what does that stand for?

Doug Dwyer: It's Chief Stewarding Officer. When I bought this company 21 years ago in 2003, I had a mentor named Stanley Tam, who wrote a book called, God Owns My Business. And so that convicted me. And so when I bought the business, I prayed about it. I knew I wasn't above pride. Hey, this gets really successful, I'll think I did it and start thinking I'm better than I am.

And so I said, God, I want to make sure I help keep myself humble because I know I'm not above falling. And so I'm going to promise you that I will never name myself CEO of this company. I'm going to look to you as the CEO. And that's how a ministry, actually today that God had birthed,I didn't know that would happen, called God is CEO formalized in 2016, but really started in 2003 when I bought this company.

And then in addition, like Stanley Tam, he had converted his company into a foundation and I'm like, I didn't know how to do all that. So this was my attempt to just put God first and have a really good reminder and God's done a lot with it.

Jim: The fact that you got to meet Stanley Tam, pretty powerful. Lived to be 107, almost 108 years old and really a forefather in the faith and work movement. Pretty phenomenal.

Doug Dwyer: Oh, absolutely. I saw Stanley at 96, 99, 103, 106. I met him at 87, but I just thought, Oh, this will be the last time. And he, but yeah, God through one business guy - that guy gave over 120 million admissions in his lifetime, but the bigger number is he took a challenge that God had after he resisted four times. He says, okay, God, I'll do it. God, give me those people that don't know you, the lost of the world, if you would, and God did.

And Stanley, in a 23 year period, saw an average of three people a day come to Christ through a sign on his building, a decision card in the book he wrote, through the track that went with every part that went out of his U.S. plastics distribution center, and his personal witnessing. For 23 years straight he saw an average of three people a day come to Christ.

Martha: It's so amazing and our listeners are not foreign to hearing about Stanley Tam. Just his story, let alone what he personally was able to do, the lives he was able to touch, the ongoing effects of how it affected you, Doug, and other people like that.

My father is another one of those people that was heavily influenced by him. And so that is generational, and I love hearing that. And the CSO title really gives you an open door for conversation with people, too, that allows you probably to talk about it more than you even realized.

So tell us your Jesus story.How did Jesus intersect your life?

Doug Dwyer: So he’d been coming after me longer than I realized. I grew up in, I grew up in the church, been through different things in the church, confirmation, things of that nature. But I wasn't, I didn't ever know Jesus. I knew about Jesus. I knew about God. I believed in them, but I wasn't a follower of Jesus, right?

I was a knower and I was an obeyer some, but not a follower. There's a difference. And so I was on a, I found myself up in Washington, DC, to receive an award on I got there on a Saturday. And Sunday night was gonna be the first opening to this event and to receive this award.

And I thought, I don't like working Sundays, even at that point in my life had some Godliness about me. And anyway so I thought, you know what? I checked in my hotel. I said I'm going to see if I can't find a church. So took a walk after checking in and sure enough, I found a church. Next morning I'm in my hotel room with a little Gideon personal worker testament that a guy, a coworker, gave to me 14 years prior.

And I'm pacing my room and I'm like, wait a minute. I'm already a Christian. I don't need to do this, but God had led me, impressed me to bring that with me.And it had the little prayer in the back to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. And so I finally knelt by my bed and say, God, I just want to make sure I got this right. And said the prayer, I got up. I didn't feel any different. Say, Oh, I guess I was always a Christian!

But then, got finished getting ready. I go find that church and I go to the church and I just kneel down and start praying. the service is going on, but I'm talking to God and I say, God, I'm not sure I'm where you want me. And so the background of that at that the time we had changed the name of the company.I lost my top salesperson. We're losing 20 to 30, 000 a month at the time. Other challenges go on in my life.

And so I'm praying, I go, God, I just, I don't get it. I can't work any harder than I'm working. I never worked that many hours in my life. And I said, if you want me to do something else, show me what it is and I'll do it.And then the next thing I started to pray, I say, God, I've not been good at choosing the right woman. Would you send me the right woman? And then God said you've not been doing it my way. And I never understood what his way was till that moment. I was like, Oh yeah, no, I've been doing it the world's way.

And then before I could even start praying again, a power and an energy inside of me started to grow and grow till it was like, man, this is awesome. And then it kept growing, and I was like, Doug, you're incapable of holding this much power in. And so literally what happened was I finally just had to let go, like just cause I literally felt my chest was going to explode.

It was so intense and powerful in a church, and not a charismatic church. This is not one of those. And anyway, long story short God changed me in that moment. So what I realized, what God taught me, in the hotel room, I made Jesus savior. In that church, I made him Lord. I said, God, show me what you want me to do. And I'll do it.

Jim: We're talking today with Doug Dwyer, who is the CSO of DreamMaker Bath and Kitchen, and we're gonna get back to that story in a second, but speaking of companies that run differently than most, let's talk about Patriot Mobile for a minute.

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Patriot mobile is an affiliate partner that helps more workplace believers understand their mission field. You can become a partner by making a year end donation at iWork4Him.com/donate. All right, Doug, back to your story. I want to know DreamMaker Bath and Kitchen - you broke that out of the family franchise system and it operates different than other franchise companies. Why DreamMaker Bath and Kitchen?

Doug Dwyer: I took over a company that was a different brand that I was running, it was privately owned where we had the majority of all the other franchise brands which were part of a public company called the Dwyer group.

And we were considered the Dwyer group but privately owned and we sold off the Dwyer group. That was the time I bought this company in 2003. And I had taken it from being a refinishing company, tub and tile refinishing to a full service kitchen, bath, interior remodeling company. I like to say the wives love us and the husband's not as much cause of the money, but not that there's not a lot of wives that buy the kitchens themselves.

There's definitely a lot of independent successful ladies out there. We're happy for all of them. And yeah so we moved into that brand and grew it. So we just had our 25th anniversary this summer for DreamMaker. And yeah, we have design centers and we have locations in 23 States across the US right now.

Jim: So how is DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen different from other franchise companies?

Doug Dwyer: I think, when I came to Christ May 20th of 2000, I remember God saying, okay, now I want you to bring me into your work with you. And I was like, I don't know how to do that. Like I go to work, you just work (laughing) but through great blessings and great challenges, God has taught me three things.

He taught me a thing called the call to live with love, with excellence, and truth, and love is relational, right? Jesus died on the cross so we can become part of his family. Excellence is measurable, has to do with stewardship. And then truth is biblical. For us, it's Christian biblical truth.

And so we, we've built our organizations, all organizations we've built, on a code of values, but the twist with DreamMaker is God had me search the book of Proverbs and undergird all those values with a proverb. And so that's how we run the organization. So that would be different than most and our mission as a franchise, so this is a franchise or a franchisee, is to glorify God and all that we do, to be faithful stewards of all that we've been entrusted with, that includes our time, talent and treasures and making a profit, and then the last one is to positively impact lives.

And it ties to my dad's mission statement to teach our principles and systems of personal and business success so that all the people we touch live happier, more successful lives.So with that mission and those code of values as the guard rails on how to grow the organization and prayer in an appropriate way as part of our culture and how we do things. And so that's quite a bit different that you have a national company with a mission statement to glorify God as the opener.

Martha: Yeah, and it's very clear by just hearing you explain those things that really are foundational to your organization that people can hear that, they can see well, that's not something I hear all the time. Now hopefully our iWork4Him listeners are hearing that more than others because that is what we talk about here on iWork4Him, but you are making a huge impact by that very specific intentional. This isn't decisions that you've made.

Okay, so let's talk about 2008. I understand this was a very big year for you because you got married that year, but it was also the beginning of some really ugly times in the U.S. economy. What happened to DreamMaker during that time?

Doug Dwyer: Yes.

Martha: Sorry. Do you want to go there?

Doug Dwyer: So it actually started in July of 07 but there's a lot of stuff there, but let me stick with where you're pointing. December of 2007 was the beginning of the great recession, right? So by April of that year, we have just had three months of decline, serious decline, but I didn't know it because our financials were done by another company.

Anyway, we didn't have all the data. So then my director of marketing, She was going in for brain surgery. Number three, first franchisee and a Christian franchisee just decided he would go independent, even though we helped increase his gross profit margin by like 150%.And then there was, Oh, and then we had a guy lie that we had come on board to take care of a certain department. And we had to let him go, but because of a technicality on an agreement, we had to pay 26, 000 between attorney's fees and him.

Anyway, so you had all that and then I'm being blessed with one of the greatest blessings of my entire life. I get married April 26th of 2008. And so I, I'm going on my honeymoon and I've been in business long enough I go I give it six weeks before I need to downsize the company if things don't start turning around. And in that crazy time I get back with my wife and we're reading in the Bible in Proverbs 27 and anyway two of them stood out.

And God taught me right then, know the condition of your flocks and pay careful attention to your herds. So that means love people. That's where he taught me the call to live with love. Love people, know them and love them Love your neighbors as yourself. And then the second thing was the prudent see  danger and take refuge; the simple keep going and suffer for it or, get clobbered, in the message Bible. I liked that one. (laughter)

So I found out when I got back, I had to downsize the company, and over a year's time, I went through four downsizings. I went from 32 employees, the lowest point we got to eight. The franchise organization shrunk down. Our revenue in a four year period went down 58%. It was painful and long.

But in that, God taught me the call to live with truth. The full gospel is there's joy in pain and those both shape us and grow us. And in the pain, frankly, it's actually where God gives you the innovations individually to become more like Christ and gives you the innovations in the business to improve it, if we'll just keep our eyes on him, go through it.

Now, is it easy? Do I want to do that every day? No, like anybody. Boy, but it bears big fruit and it teaches us. So in all that and then I remember in ‘04 we made a profit after coming out of that bad season originally. And that's when God says I want you to do this business with excellence.And there's a picture behind me of Jesus consulting a businessman. And that was the picture I was looking at when we just made a profit. And I'm like, Oh, it's awesome, man. I want to enjoy this. And God goes. Now I want you to do this with excellence, Doug. And I'm like, can I just enjoy it, Lord?

And he's like, yeah today, but it's a business you got to keep going. So it's hard boy, but it's joyous and it bears fruit. So anyway, that's maybe more than you asked, but that's what shows up for me.

Jim: But it's good to have that perspective because obviously things are better today than they were in 2008. The economy was rough. You lived in Texas and we lived in Florida and the economy in Texas and Florida and Arizona, all three states were just a mess, that a lot of the rest of the country wasn't in. So when you look at today, you've got - how many families does your franchising organization serve today?

Cause this is a ministry. This is a biznistry as we like to call it, thanks to Chuck Proudfit out of Cincinnati, Ohio. How many families are you servicing or impacted by at the headquarters and the franchisees across the country?

Doug Dwyer: Then you got their workers and the subcontracts. It's hundreds and hundreds. I haven't ever really added up all those numbers. And then the clients that we serve. I know I have the number in my head thinking in 2030 where we want to be at 100 locations. right now we're at 43 locations.

And out in the future, it'll be 4 to 5, 000 families a year we will impact in their homes plus the team. So probably 5, 000 people. So now it's probably, yeah, a thousand, thousand plus people a year that we're impacting. And what's cool, through all that pain and stuff we went through is, God was doing a bigger work behind the scenes as our average unit store sales in 2011, we're doing 495, 000 last year our average unit did one 1,513,000.  

Jim: That’s incredible. Wow, so when you look at all that God has done and you get the perspective of where you came fro,m those were some rough days. How would you say your faith has been impacted by seeing how God has worked once you finally made him CEO of the company?

Doug Dwyer: Yeah, it's a growth process, right? So you go through different layers of it, but I tell you what, it's attracted some really good people to the team, that want to be part of something like this. And you always want great people. In fact, I have a gentleman that was a consultant of ours and top marketing guy in our industry for design build interior, home remodeling.

He helped build a company in 1999 to 2013. Anyway,  when he got there, there were 19 million. He helped them grow to 52 million. And anyway, he was a consultant for nine years with us and his wife his wife says, you're happier every time you come back from working with DreamMaker, but you're always frustrated with the other clients.

Anyway, long story short, a couple of years ago, he called me and he ended up closing down his business, taking a severe pay cut because he felt called to come work for us. So now he's on staff as our director of marketing. That's just a miracle, right? That's a Marketplace minister, right? He is here and now he's doing our marketing and doing some phenomenal things to take us to the next level.

God as CEO is, you pray for a meeting and then God may change the agenda. And we have to be open to that and let him lead it. And I don't do it perfectly. Nobody does. But we can do it with excellence. And that means we'll admit when we're wrong and we just give it our best every day.

Martha: I love this conversation because obviously we're talking to you at a time when things are going well, you've gone through a lot of different stages with your company. And I think it's important for our listeners, Jim, to hear that it's not always easy. Like you had some really tough seasons, but as a result, you're seeing lives be changed and the support that you're able to give to those people.

On iWork4Him, we love to say our faith should impact those around us, whether they believe in Jesus or not. And that's why we love to align with other companies that are run on biblical principles, like Doug Dwyer here, our guest today. So one of those companies that we just can't seem to talk enough about is SaferNet.

SaferNet is created to protect you from what I call the bad guys that are lurking around, trying to take advantage of you by attacking your computers, your cell phones, or anything else, any of your other digital devices. They operate on biblical principles and proactive measures so that you can stay focused on what God has called you to do. There are 84 web filters, their virus protection and internet controls keep you in check. So visit safernet.com to learn more today.

Jim: Doug, when we did a kind of a pre interview several months ago, you went through some keys that you love to teach your franchisees and others about operating a business as a Jesus follower. What are a couple of those keys that you bring up and that you disciple people with?

Doug Dwyer: There's practical things that you have to do. So building a culture, I think it's critical to get a shared set of values in writing, we call it a code of values here at DreamMaker. And in that code of values - so I’ll give you an example. Our first one is we believe in superior service to our customers, our community, and to each other as members of the DreamMaker team. And the proverb that goes with that is Proverbs 21:5 - good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

And then I'd like to share one more. We believe management should seek out and recognize what people are doing right and treat every associate with respect. And it's Proverbs 18:21. We used five translations to make, almost make it like a study situation. But the proverb with that one is 18:21 - words kill, words give life. They're either poison or fruit you choose.

So just, you can't argue with the common sense of proverbs in business and Truitt Kathy, who was a mentor to me just through one weekend, but what he built and Dan Kathy and Bubba, who I've got to meet over the years. So we have to learn to put legs to the verses and that's how you bring God into your business, is we need to bring it with love, customer service, care, care for our employees, knowing them, excellence.

We measure things. It takes measurements. It's hard work. You don't do it all overnight to become excellent. So getting a code of values in place and have a system for doing that and with God as CEO Ministry, GodasCEO.org, you could go watch how to build your own code of values out there and how do you build that, how do you do that.

So that's a huge, we built a today what was the Dwyer group now is called Neighborly, which is a multi billion dollar, over 5, 000 locations, nine countries, but the backbone to that, the foundation of that is this code of values I'm talking about. So you can use it as a model to help build your own.

So that's one thing, but it's understanding back to that, the simple practical things of the great command, love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, right? That you're going to prioritize relationships over money. It doesn't mean you keep somebody on that doesn't perform, right?

That's not wisdom. But it's that idea of being intentional about love, right? Love people. Then it's love your neighbor as yourself. How do we love our staff? Do we know them? Do we take care of them? And do we care for them? Our franchisees, do we go the extra mile, right? And take care of them as the Bible would teach us.

Those are all those practical things that I like to lead. That's part of stewardship. That's part of building things up with excellence. And frankly, if we live out those, and if you think about what's the famous verse, verse in first Corinthians 13, love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not self seeking. It keeps no records of wrong. It does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always perseveres, always hopes, et cetera.

So if we could just live that out in practical terms with love, relationships with excellence means stewardship grounded in God's truth, then our business will kill it, right? That will win the respect of God and men, which the Bible calls us to do. So that's really part of how I would try to get that across to people. It's very practical. It's very real. And I'll give you an example.

We did a test pilot project with Chick fil A with Mr.Rudder, our plumbing company back many years ago in the late nineties. And our technician got to their location three hours late. I'm the president of the national accounts company we had, I get a phone call from the VP that really is running it and you really need to hear this message.

And I get this call from a VP from Chick fil A headquarters saying, we really want to apologize for our operator and how they treated your technician. And I'm thinking why are they apologizing to us? Our guy was three hours late. They're apologizing because their guy lost their cool and treated our technician roughly which you would expect, right? Oh, we deserved it, kind of thing.

And this guy apologizes for that, and then he goes on to say, hey, as stewards of God we do not want you to think that's how people should be treated or operate. I was like, wow, if I could run a business that has a bar that high, that is awesome. And then years later for me to meet these folk, but the point there is when you follow God, he will ultimately over time create ways for you to operate at a level that other people go, how the heck do you do that?

Cause in running a business, you barely have the time to do the things that you screw up, much less you didn't hold to your highest, the super high standard. And Chick fil a has done phenomenal. I know their stats and their average freestanding store does 9. 2 million now, which is almost double McDonald's.

But it's a long game. It's not a short game, right? It takes a while to get the foundation but in the long run, like he's done with DreamMaker, like he's done with chick fil a, you'll get there. But the thing is you don't have to lose your family, your health, your marriage, you know, the blessings of the Lord. The blessings of the Lord add riches, but he adds no sorrow with it. So if we stay in pace with the Lord, it'll happen over time, but you're gonna have to go through trials You're gonna go through pain because if he blesses you or me too fast, we'll get ruined because we can't handle it, flesh wise. So it'll be a process of just trust in that and know there's a bigger game going on, which has eternal impact. How many people can we help make it to heaven?

Jim: Yeah, Doug, you mentioned earlier, and as we close out the show that you've got 43 franchisees spread across the country, but you're looking to grow toward 100 by 2030, which is good grief, just five years away from now.

If somebody wants, if they've been inspired by your story today and by hearing your heart and say I want to be a part of that franchising organization, how does somebody get ahold of you? If they listened to that iWork4Him and it wouldn't be the first time that somebody bought a franchise because they heard a story of a franchisor on iWork4Him, how would somebody get ahold of you?

Doug Dwyer: You can email me at Doug dot DWYER at DreamMaker. That's two M's in the middle DreamMaker BK for bath and kitchen. com or just call me at 2 5 4 5 2 3 9 5 7 7.

Jim: If you've ever thought of starting your own business and don't want to have to recreate the wheel and you know a successful model, if you like one and you love seeing kitchens and baths turned right side up, it sounds like a no brainer and to be able to work under the auspices of a guy that's figured out how to glorify God while redoing kitchens and baths.

That's fantastic because there's no more frustration in the world than redoing your kitchen or your bath. If you get somebody else to do it and glorify God at the same time, it sounds fantastic. Doug, 30 seconds or less - any advice for those Christian business owners, those stewards, those CSOs out there listening, any advice for them from the bottom of your heart to the people that are listening today?

Doug Dwyer: Make God CEO of your business, whether that's on paper, that's secondary to being in your heart. What I've learned is dreams come true God's way, but it happens first by surrender and in the surrender to God continually of Oh, bigger's better, all that. No, God, what do you want?

What's the impact you want? So in that then transformation will happen and dreams will come through God's way. And it's about obedience. Stanley Tam taught me that just be obedient. Delayed obedience is disobedience. Be obedient. We're not going to be perfect. Don't let the devil kill you on that stuff, but just stick with the Lord. Surrender to his stuff every day. God, what do you want me to do? And follow him.

And it may be slower, and what one guy taught me a long time ago and with the Lord, I found this to be true, is what appears to be the slow way is the fast way. Cause in the end you'll get the root system personally and in the business that will be able to help it scale better and have a greater impact in this world and for eternity.

Jim: Check out Doug online DreamMaker franchise.com DreamMaker franchise. com And of course, we'll put all of Doug's contact information in the show notes Doug Dwyer Thanks for being on iWork4Him today.

Doug Dwyer: Pleasure to be with you. Thanks for having me.

Jim: You've been listening to iWork4Him with your hosts Jim and Martha Brangenberg. We're Christ followers. Our workplace, it's our mission field, but ultimately iWork4Him.