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Show Summary
In this conversation, John Bradford discusses his journey as an entrepreneur and the creation of Pet Screening, a software platform designed to help landlords manage pet policies and risks. He shares insights on the importance of executing ideas, the challenges of competition, and the significance of maintaining core values in business. The discussion also touches on the expansion into vacation rentals and the need for pet-friendly options in the rental market. Bradford emphasizes the importance of relationships, kindness, and the value of giving back to the community.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
John (00:00)
We had a dog bite incident. The dog was not supposed to be there. I got sued. My insurance company came in. They settled the lawsuit, even though I argued that there was no dog on the lease. So why am I responsible? And they just said, well, that’s why you have insurance. And so I wound up paying a claim for a dog that wasn’t supposed to be there. And it made me start thinking about what can landlords like medo to better protect ourselves when it comes to pets.
Quentin (01:55)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Fros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I am excited to be here. You know, one of the things that really excites me is when I get a chance to look at different people and look through their lenses and what they do. They are expert at what they do. And sometimes we hear things that maybe we have never heard before. And for me, it kind of falls into that category today.But I’m excited for our guest to us all about what he’s doing. This gentleman deals with pet policies, pet policies and really help people understand and navigate the policies about where they are, where they rent and what they own. And he’s really made a great successful model in business out of what he does. And so I am so excited to introduce you all to Mr. John Bradford. Mr. John, how you doing today, sir?
John (02:50)
Hey Q, hey, thanks so much for having me your podcast. This will be fun.Quentin (02:54)
Absolutely, it’s going to be fun. And listen, Mr. John, I want to go into your world. I want you to take us into your world. So I want you to tell us what your main focus is these days. If you want to give us an origin story of kind of how you led up to this, like kind of where the idea came from, how you got into it. We love origin stories. And also, if you want to tell us a part of the world you’re in and a part of the world, you know, part that you serve. And so, Mr. John, you got the floor, sir.John (03:21)
Very good. Well, good to be with you. My name is John Bradford. I’m coming to you from Charlotte, North Carolina. I live in Charlotte. My company’s headquartered here, but we do business in all 50 states. So we’re national in scope and scale. You know, so I have a software product. It’s called Pet Screening. I have a really neat origin story. Like if there was ever an example of a product that was created for out of a true need that someone saw, I would say I’m kind of living that American dream. ⁓ I was a property manager. I was buying rentals for my owninvestment portfolio, then I started doing it for other people. So I grew this management company and I’m very pet friendly. I’ve had pets all my life. In fact, I have a dog now. And so I was always very pet welcoming.
We had a dog bite incident. The dog was not supposed to be there. I got sued. My insurance company came in. They settled the lawsuit, even though I argued that there was no dog on the lease. So why am I responsible? And they just said, well, that’s why you have insurance. And so I wound up paying a claim for a dog that wasn’t supposed to be there. And it made me start thinking about what can landlords like me
do to better protect ourselves when it comes to pets.
All while doing that, I had a political career and I served in the North Carolina House of Representatives. And that’s important because I was carrying all of my state’s tenant landlord laws. So I really understand fair housing. I understand the laws. And I started seeing people pass their pets off as emotional support animals. And while there are people that need those animals, there are also a lot of bad actors who are faking it because if you have an ESA, you probably know if you’re a landlord, you don’t have to pay any pet fees because an animal is not a pet.
But there’s so many people taking advantage of it that it was a huge issue. So I started pet screening and here we are nine years later. It’s been a ball.
Quentin (04:55)
Wow, I mean, fantastic. you know, we talked about how just like different areas that you end kind of leadto like some kind of confluence, right? Like, like always, like to say, destiny have no wasted moments, right? So the things that we go through in life, they kind of just lead to things just coming together. And it’s amazing, man, how you was able to find a need and then serve people to really fulfill the need. And that’s absolutely amazing. And so you’ve been
Success when so many didn’t walk walks of life. So I wanna pick your brain on some of the strategies that you use. And so I would love if there’s core strategies that you have identified that you use business wise, in personal, like to really kinda keep you motivated that’s led to your success. I would love if you can share some strategies with us Mr. Jones.
John (06:32)
Well, I mean, look, it starts with if you have an idea.It’s only an idea until you pursue it. I know some really good ideas, but they shelf them and they go away with them and then they’ll see it developed by someone else. Like, I have that idea. So I would say if you have a good idea, execute on it. And I had an idea. And so I put my, like to say, Q. put my money where my mouth is and I bootstrap pet screening, started it, hired a develop some developers to help me get this thing going. And I’m so glad that I did that. So when you have an idea, go for it. I think you have to lead by example. There’s nothing that I would ever ask anyone in my company to do any of my employees to do that.
would not do myself. So I think you just have to be willing to do things that others, you know, why would you ask them to do something if you weren’t doing yourself? And that’s just sort of a core tenet of my life. I remember my old company, proud of this one, we used to stop the office and clean as a team because we didn’t have the money to hire cleaners. I always queue clean the toilets myself. I didn’t let them do it. I did it. Because I felt like if I could clean the toilets,
then if there was a time that I couldn’t clean the toilets and I was out of town traveling, then they would do it. And as simple as that sounds, it really does go a long way. And then do good. Like I think it’s incredibly important to do good, right? So we use our profits at Petscreen, we need to do good. We support the Down Syndrome community. We have an employee with Down Syndrome. I just think you have to give back, right? Profits are wonderful. You need them to make a living, but you also need to carve out some and do good. And I just think that’s a good life. Another core tenant.
Quentin (07:54)
Sir, thank you so much for sharing. So much of that, what you said resonated with me. My dad, he’s a pastor, grew up pastor in a small church like in the country. And I watched him clean tall this man. I watched him lead by example. It wasn’t nothing that he was asking anybody to do that he wasn’t willing to do himself. And there was times it was just me and him alone and we were cleaning and doing things. so, man, that just brings back so many memories and I’m so glad that that’s.Part of core of things that you teach people and just really just a part of a core of who you are just leaving by example. So I appreciate you.
John (08:29)
Yeah,it was just the truth, right? Working hard is, it’s not a learned thing. You just got to do it and good things happen.
Quentin (08:36)
⁓ That’s the truth. You’re absolutely correct. And so I would love to know, know, why, you know, story, you know, life definitely, you know, made pivots in your life. And so I’m just wondering, as you was working your way to building what you have now, have you reached, you bumped up against any adversity? Have there been times when things got real, you had to pivot fast? Like, I would love to know a story like that.to kind of help people know, some people might be stuck that’s listening to this and let them know that, adversity is part of the game.
John (09:09)
Yeah, so I mean, you when I said I had this idea of pet screening, everyone, I think they were polite, they no one would tell me it was a bad idea. But really, no one understood what the heck I was talking about until I launched it. And of course, now they’re like, my God, like that was really an amazing idea. But again, a lot of people didn’t know what it was. So I think, you know, you got to be honest with yourself. And if you think it’s a good idea, you know, put your money where your mouth is and go for it. I will tell you when I launched pet screening in the multifamily space, specifically, the only type of product that was out there that didn’t any type of pet work,was a company that did DNA testing on dog poop. And so people would think that pet screening that we tested dog poop. And I would be like, no, we pet screening. don’t, we don’t do DNA testing. I like to say we don’t do poo. We’re more of the front end. They’re more of the back end. And, and so it was a challenge. You like that? It was a challenge at the very beginning. But of course, nine years into this, now everyone knows pet screening.
You know, we’re a free service to landlords that just helps them screen pets, make sure they follow policies. And we stop fake emotional support animals. There are people who need these animals, but
There’s a lot of bad actors and we stop them because that’s money coming out of a landlord’s pocket. And that’s a big problem that we’ve solved at pet screening. And then it’s free for landlords. Hello, no brainer.
Quentin (10:51)
Yeah, you know, it’s so many ideas are crazy only until it’s built and people be like, oh, wow. Like it makes sense after it’s built. Right. And I think you use the word trailblazer, right? Like there’s pathfinders and there’s trailblazers. Pathfinders jumped on a path after somebody that already trailblazed the trail. Right. And so, but trailblazers, they got to cut down the weed. They got to, you know, see the vision in their head and they actually had to make that thing come to pass. And so.No, I appreciate everything you’re saying because it makes total sense to me.
John (11:28)
Yeah, we’re trailblazers for sure. And trust me, what we don’t do is when we meet a dead end, we don’t stop and complain about it. We just switch directions and keep swinging the machete and go a different way. I told you earlier before the show, I don’t want to be like the Queen Mary. That boat’s a big ship. It takes like two miles to turn. I want to be a jet ski. I want to yank this thing on a dime. Turn it around. And if we go on the wrong way, we’re going to turn it the other way and go back the other way. Because that’s what you got to do. Time is never your friend in tech. So you got to go.Mmm.
Quentin (11:58)
I love it. love it. I’m sure our viewers are getting a ton of value from this. Let me ask you this, Mr. John. What’s the next real goal? What are you looking at, scale or solve next? What’s the next goal,John (12:10)
Yeah, so look, pet owners no different than me. They want to take their pets anywhere they live, work, travel, play or stay. And so we’ve for the last nine years, we’ve been in the long term rental space. So think 12 month leases, US military is using us manufactured housing, student housing, affordable housing, multifamily, single family. But this year, we went into the vacation rentals segment. So people want to take their pets on vacation. Only about 30 % of vacation rentals are pet friendly, largely because they don’t really know how to properly manage it. So we think that our platform can help hostsbetter manage their properties, which would then open the door for more people to bring pets to their vacation. I mean, look, it costs $60 a night to board your pet to leave them behind. Wouldn’t you rather take them on vacation and give that $50 or $60 to your host so it leaves your dogs with you? And that’s more revenue for the host anyway. And it’s sort of a misnomer that all pets cause damage because they really don’t. I mean, trust me, someone renting a beach house for six grand for the week, their dog is not going to tear your property up. That’s probably a well-trained, a well-taken care of dog, kind of generalizing.
But I would say statistically speaking, that’s just gonna be money that goes right to the host bottom line. So that’s gonna be fun for us going into vacation rentals and expanding in the new year.
Quentin (13:18)
I love it. love it. Let me ask you. So it seems to me, ⁓ just relationships, right? It seems just listening to you, it seems to me you know how to build good relationships. And so just want to, I’m going to park there for a little bit and tell me about relationships. Are they important to you? If they are important to you, what’s made the biggest difference for you when it comes to relationships?John (13:43)
Yeah, mean, that’s ever look, people are everything. You know, when I was in business school, they’re like, people are everything. And you hear that a lot. But but but but we’ll have lived it. And they’re right. Just a couple examples. One of my SVPs of sales we met when we I worked at IBM, we met at IBM in 2000, 25 years ago. And when he retired from IBM after 20 years, I hired him to come work at my company, my main chief legal counsel, I met him in 2006. So we’re almost we’re 19 years of knowing each other. I just think when you meet someone thatyou respect, you trust, and then of course it’s mutual the other way, then in your life you just find ways to fold them in. And that’s just relationships. And I’m very loyal probably to a fault. Now at the same time, if you burn me, I mean, I won’t be rude about it, but I won’t let you burn me twice, because I’ll just go a different direction. Do as you say, and don’t over promise and under deliver. I just think that’s terrible. It’s okay to say no. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been much better at saying no. I’d rather say no and not.
let you down later and just say, look, I can’t get to it. And that’s the honest truth. So those are some things that I’ve had to, you know, pick up later in my, in my life. But I think I’ve gotten there and I don’t consider myself good at a lot of things, but somehow Q, I’m good at meeting people who really buy into what I’m doing and treat it as their own. And that’s it. And I thank the good Lord for giving me that skill set because I’ve hired some amazing people that have just been with me through thick and thin
continue to stay with me. So it’s wonderful.
Quentin (15:47)
Yeah. Now, ⁓ there is the art of connecting. You know, I always say community is common unity. It’s people that’s in unity doing things together. And I love how you say, listen, I trust you trust loyal to a foe, but you want to get one chance to burn me. And I always say trust is earned in drops and lost in buckets. It’s earned in drops. It’s what makes the big shift. But man, I will turn on a down if that trust is gone.⁓ I hear you very very clearly sir.
John (16:19)
I tell my kids there’s two things you can control. You can control your credit score. So if you get a credit card, please only put stuff on there you can pay back because that you can control that. OK, your credit score. The other thing you control is your reputation. How you treat people kindness doesn’t cost anything extra. You can be kind and still be resolved. Look, I was in politics for 11 years and I disagree with a lot of people, but I was always very nice to them and say, you know what? Let’s disagree on these two things, but let’s agree on these eight things. And that’s just common sense, right? My wife and I don’t agree on everything, but you know, that’s just.compromise this part of life.
Quentin (16:51)
That part, know, oh man, that is so good. And I really try to look at my marriage. I mean, this is the woman I love with all my heart. This is my darling. This is my pudding. And man, do we not get along sometimes. I mean, I can’t even.John (17:10)
Yeah, but can you imagine Q having someone just agreed with you all the time? Who wants a yes person? You know, I don’t need that in my life. Tell me. Yeah, and that’s another thing I will say when you have an idea, do not ask your best friends and your family because they will not have the the the tenacity to tell you no because they’re too nice and they don’t want to tell you no. Go ask people you don’t know or a network of people that don’t mind telling you no because unfortunately your friends and family they’re so kind they’re not going to know how to tell you no and you can’t fault them for that.So don’t fool yourself and think you have a great idea because the people you love the most and care that care for you the most will tell you it’s a great idea. Go find people that you don’t know or networks of people and ask them and you might hear a different story. But if you hear good from them, maybe you have some.
Quentin (17:52)
Yeah, no, that’s that’s incredible advice. That’s really good advice. You have you’re really giving us something to really, really think about. Like even saying that you can control your credit score. Some people don’t know they can do that. They can’t. Once you get on the. Just say, yeah, just pay. That’s all right. It’s as simple as that, right? So now listen, you have been a breath of fresh air.John (18:08)
Best stuff to get out,That’s all you
Quentin (18:20)
Mr. John, is there any other thing as far as inspiration, education, just encouragement maybe that you want to give to the people? Just something that you think about, something that you have just picked up over the years. just love listening to you talk. love your perspective. So there’s anything else you want to give.John (18:36)
I would just say if you have an opportunity to run your own company, we have three core values. Keep it simple. Too many, it gets lost. We have three. ⁓ Everyone deserves an opportunity.You know, we have a young man with Down syndrome that works at my company because he is capable and competent and ready to make a difference. And so everyone deserves an opportunity. I have people that never went to college because their life circumstance didn’t provide it, but they’re the hardest workers I know. So everyone deserves an opportunity. Number two, make your mark. I tell my team, make your mark. Now, if you make a negative mark, you’re going to be out of here. But if you make a positive mark, you can make a real difference. And I want you to make your mark, whatever that is. And third, laugh more and have fun. Like if you don’t enjoy what you do, don’t do it. So we
We laugh at pet screening. We let you bring your dogs to work. I go up and down aisles every morning saying hello to my employees, rubbing a lot of dog bellies. So if you don’t enjoy what you do, I say get a nice car because you’re going to be in it, singing and sitting in traffic. Get a great mattress because you need a nice night’s sleep. Otherwise, you’re going to be exhausted and work somewhere or do something you love to do and probably marry up. Those are fourth one that you and I primarily marry up. There’s a fourth one we’ll add. There you go.
Quentin (19:40)
If you ain’t hit the nail on the head with that last one, sir. Everyone loves opportunity. Make your mark. Laugh more, have fun. That’s right. Sir, you make life sound so simple. And really, it can be. It ain’t easy, but it can be simple. It’s not easy.John (19:59)
Work hard to be lucky, right?Quentin (20:01)
Come on man, work hard to be lucky. Mr. John, sir, I thank you so much, man. This has really, really been good. If people wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you, sir?John (20:14)
I’m on LinkedIn, John R. Bradford. My email is john J-O-H-N @petscreening.com, pretty straightforward. Being a public official, I’m out there. I just finished last December, but I don’t know. If you email me, I’ll email you back. That’s just sort of my rule. So I’m happy to help wherever I can. I’m not a know-it-all. I don’t want to come across as one. My experiences are those of mine, and I’m happy to share them. And if it helps you, bravo. And if you have something you want to share with me, I’m all ears.Quentin (20:41)
I love it. Mr. John again. Thank you, sir. Thank you for your story for your time. Definitely. Thank you for your perspective. The way your brain works. I appreciate it. You you are the type of person that somebody will pay to think, right? They may think, you know, they’re paying you for, you know, what you do know your brain is what somebody would pay for because I love the way you think, man. You think under way of success, a way of innovation in a way that’s outside the box. And so I really, really appreciate you, sir.John (21:10)
Thank you for having me.Quentin (21:11)
Absolutely. So listen, y’all got the value from Mr. John. Y’all heard him. Y’all heard the stories and the nuggets. Listen, go ahead and subscribe. I keep telling you, we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Mr. John. So subscribe. That way, when that alert goes off, you can just open up the episode and enjoy. Again, thank you, Mr. John. And to everyone else, we will see you on the next time.
