Corporate Climbers
What do you do when the next rung of the corporate ladder isn't enough motivation for you? These entrepreneurs transferred their climb to the world of franchising.
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Fed up with being the VP of marketing? Done with your days as
the director of technology? The upheaval in the economy has brought
layoffs and uncertainty, devalued portfolios and a feeling that no
matter how hard you work in the corporate world, you may not have
as much control over your career as you'd like. And all these
factors have led to one trend: an increase in professionals leaving
their corporate digs to try their hand at franchising.
"Since the Internet bubble burst, we've seen a dramatic
increase," says Jeff Elgin, founder and CEO of Eden Prairie,
Minnesota-based FranChoice Inc., a company that provides free
consulting to consumers looking for a franchise. "A lot of
people have been downsized two or even three times over the past 12
years, and they're sick of it." So sick of it, in fact,
that they're moving into franchising with the hope of
controlling their own destiny and not being at the mercy of someone
else's balance sheet.
Why franchising? Probably because the leap from corporate
employee to entrepreneur can be terrifying. Execs who used to
delegate tasks to marketing, advertising and accounting departments
can suddenly face the prospect of taking care of everything
themselves. Franchising's appeal is that it offers the
incentive of business ownership and cushions the blow by providing
the training, assistance and structure ex-execs are accustomed
to.
It's a combination that makes sense. "With a franchise
system, there are some boundaries, [because the franchisor] has
learned from trial and error," says Elgin. "Why reinvent
the wheel?"
If you're ready to learn, willing to get your hands dirty
and aching to build a company with a successful track record, this
may be your gig. Meet three ex-corporate execs who found the dream
was theirs.
Ready to make that leap from corporate
denizen to fearless franchisee? Here are some resources to help
you:
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Carl Dissette knows what he wants--independence and the freedom
to establish his own territory. Realizing the corporate world
wouldn't give him those things, he opened two Jimmy John's
Gourmet Sandwich Shops franchises in the Chicago area in 1996.
Dissette, 39, spent his 20s working in the food industry at the
corporate level--he was regional vice president of a
coffee-roasting company by age 27. Still, even with the success and
job offers his high-demand sales and management skills were
bringing in from all sides, Dissette couldn't reconcile himself
to the fate many colleagues suffered. "I looked at how the
corporate world hired people, ground them up and spat them
out," he says.
"I was [young] and had this ability and talent," he
says. "I thought, 'I could make some corporation a lot of
money, or I could make myself a lot of money.'"
He tried his hand at a diner-type franchise and an independent
champagne and caviar bar in Chicago before settling on the Jimmy
John's system. Now with 2002 sales estimates at about $3.5
million for his six stores, Dissette continues to push past all
boundaries. "[Corporate America] is extremely restrictive to
an aggressive, fast-track person, which I was and am," he
says. "Guess what? I love my job. I love being my own
boss."
According to this former sales and marketing manager of a
dry-cleaning franchise system, he is "pretty handy."
Still, Matt Eggenberger, 45, knew he'd need a lot more than
that if he was going to get his Mr. Handyman franchise off the
ground. Eggenberger opened his franchise near Cincinnati in
February 2001 after leaving his job in January. His division had
been closing, and, with nearly 10 months of warning, he decided to
go into franchising for two reasons: the value of a name brand and
the support franchises provide.
In fact, the franchisor was an indispensable resource during the
earliest days of Eggenberger's business--they taught him
everything he needed to know about fixing stuff. "I've had
to learn about ladders," he says, laughing. "How to
conduct safety meetings, how to maintain Material Safety Data
sheets--I really didn't have to worry about that in my
marketing job."
It was also difficult to adjust to doing everything himself.
"When you're in the corporate world, you can plan your
day," he says. "When you're starting a new business,
everything you do is something new...you have to be the accountant,
receptionist, customer service--everything."
But the payoff is 2002 sales projections of $1 million.
"It's fulfilling knowing you're building equity every
day," says Eggenberger. "You can see the results of your
decisions."
Willie Smith bought into an already established AlphaGraphics
Printshops of the Future franchise in the tail end of 2001.
Formerly working as a corporate exec at GE, Smith was in an
AlphaGraphics location in Akron, Ohio, when something just clicked.
"It was time to take a little more control of my [life],"
he says. "[It was time] to look for my own venue."
Smith felt an instant rapport with the previous owner, who was
selling because it was time for a change in his own life. In fact,
Smith kept his predecessor on as a consultant to help guide him
into the business.
That expertise and close training from the previous owner, as
well as the franchisor, was crucial to Smith, who didn't have
any graphics background, though he did have to struggle with his
innate penchant for independence. "The biggest challenge is
fully utilizing the franchisor," he says. Where he normally
would have resisted help in the past, Smith found himself embracing
the support.
Stepping into an existing franchise gave him a slight advantage
as well. "I had a good idea of what I was walking into,"
says Smith, 38. "It was an existing business, so we already
had a lot of information--I just had to tap into that."
He's still tapping into it, to the tune of about $2 million in
expected sales for 2002.
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