Why did Halley make a career change?
Unlike many, I did a soft conversation into owning and operating my franchises as a primary source of income. The original plan was to leave the corporate gig and launch straight into my new life. Life had other plans. The company I was working for asked me to stay a little longer and worked to accommodate several of my requests that would be needed for me to stay.
My journey started with a sabbatical to launch my 1st business. For the month prior to launch and the 8 weeks post, I was in my business every day. With strong business leaders, that worked for about 2 years until I launched my second location. With two locations growing quickly, it was time to re-evaluate how I was going to make this work. I wanted to work in a way that allowed me to be both the parent and the business owner that I knew I could be.
In January, I followed Warren Buffet’s method for prioritization. I made a list of my top 25 priorities. He recommends crossing off the bottom twenty and not spending any more time, energy, effort against them. I highlighted my top 5; my family, my well-being (physical, emotional, and spiritual), and my franchises. Next, I mapped out how I was spending my time against those top 5 priorities. This is where I started to see a disconnect between what I valued and what I did. I decided at that point I could no longer live a life in dissonance. My original plan is once again the game plan.
I am glad I balanced both: the corporate life and the franchise life for a couple years. I learned a great deal about me, about business, about the business leader I want to be. I am excited for what the future holds!
Why will Halley make a great franchise Owner?
Franchise ownership isn’t about owning a business. It is about your employees, your customers, and the value your business adds to the communities in which we operate.
While we seek the financial benefits of a career in franchising, you have to do it for the love of the business. Knowing that my fitness concept can add life to my customers’ years, provide a good paying job in a nice environment to our employees, and I get the honor of having meaningful connections is powerful.
Tactically,
1 . Know you don’t have everything the business needs. Surround yourself with those who compliment your skill set.
2. Have a vision, yet know you will spend a lot of time in the weeds.
3. Be prepared for the high, highs and the low, lows of launching and leading businesses.
4. Have a growth mind-set…Learn EVERY single day.
5. You cannot pour from an empty cup. Take time for yourself.What were Rodney and Amy’s search criteria for finding the right franchise company?
Initially, we were looking for a passive investment but quickly realized the amount of work required. We narrowed it down to just a few, but Spray-Net quickly stood out as it is in an area of interest and an area we have experience in; plus, the business model just made too much sense, and the opportunity was too great to pass up.
What was Halley’s search criteria for finding the right franchise concept?
Liz was able to tee up amazing conversations with our family. These conversations changed the trajectory of our life.
– What type of lifestyle did we want?
– What were the biggest problems we needed to solve in our own life?
And the list went on…
– What type of investment (money and time) did we want to make?
– Did the business model make sense? A compelling point of difference or value proposition? Was the concept growing the size of that industry or just taking from the existing pie?
– What was the character of the CEO and corporate team? Did their values align with ours?
Liz shared 3 concepts – all had their merit and met most of our criteria. The reason we landed on the franchise we did was simple…We could see ourselves running that business and it excited us. Like when I picked my life partner, when you know, you know.
