Creative Juices
Running a juice bar gives one couple endless options.
By Devlin Smith •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Jay Akely's world changed when his employer went bankrupt and he suddenly lost his airplane maintenance job. Fortunately, he and his wife, Vivian, knew exactly what to do next. They didn't have much business experience, but self-employment was the only option that made sense to them. Their decision "came out of a necessity to have something we could have more control over," explains Jay.
Just as strong as his desire to own his own business was his trepidation about going it alone. The answer? Jay, 40, and Vivian, 38, bought a Juice It Up! franchise. "We've always been employees. Neither one of us felt completely comfortable with starting a business from scratch," Jay says. "We didn't have any foundation, any familiarity [with entrepreneurship]."
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