Suffolk plan for Start-up: The founder of a Norfolk start-up business is hoping to clean up by expanding into Suffolk. Sam Cordner set up East Anglia Cleaning and Maintenance about 18 months ago investing nearly £2,000 in specialist gutter cleaning equipment. The 27-year-old took on his friend Danny Sayer, and the pair set up cleaning gutters and homes around North Norfolk. Since then, the business has secured work in Norwich and Great Yarmouth, and now Mr Cordner, from Marsham, near Aylsham, is hoping to win work across the border.
With a limited budget to spend on advertising and marketing, he said he had relied largely on word of mouth to win new work. However, he had recently promoted the company through the Tickles website, which is owned by EDP publishers Archant, and he was also working on developing a website. “It’s a big market because people want it done, but a lot of people haven’t physically got the ladders,” Mr Cordner said. “I already had the van, it was just a case of buying the equipment,” he said. “It’s basically a very large vacuum cleaner, which we can run from the mains or from an adapter.
“We have got telescopic poles and can go up to four storeys comfortably and there’s a camera at the top of the pole. “We did go down the window cleaning side and we do outside maintenance but we want to emphasise this part of the business.”
Mr Cordner, whose father, Stephen, used to run Corton’s Electrical in Aylsham before selling the business, admitted that the recent cold weather had seen work dry up but with spring just around the corner he was confident that the business would resume its growth. “I like the self-employed lifestyle,” he said. “This year we want to branch out into Suffolk and get a bigger van. “We get a lot of jobs by turning up at somebody’s house, and the neighbour comes out and asks us to do their gutters too. The best result we had was doing four houses in a row, when three had asked us if we could do theirs.”
Franchising means entrepreneurs don't have to go it alone: (Raleigh) — Rich Wallace wanted to start his own business, but wasn’t sure where to start. At first, Wallace, 34, wanted to open a coffee shop, but his experience was in administration and information technology. So, he decided to explore franchising. “I know how to manage an existing business, but I didn’t know how to get started,” Wallace said. “A franchise system was going to give me the coaching I needed and the freedom I also wanted to run my own business.”
Franchises offer prospective owners the opportunity to go into business for themselves but not by themselves, said Alisa Harrison, senior vice president of communications and marketing for the International Franchise Association. However, it doesn’t guarantee a business’ success, Harrison and others said. Prospective owners need to do research, have enough capital to get the business off the ground, and put time and effort into the endeavor, Harrison and others said. “Make sure you fully understand what it is going to take to be successful, especially in the beginning,” Harrison said.
Franchises accounted for 10.5 percent of businesses with paid employees in the 295 industries from which data were collected in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent statistics. Franchises accounted for nearly $1.3 trillion of the $7.7 trillion in total sales for those industries. U.S. franchise establishments increased by 1.5 percent to 757,055 in 2012, and are expected to grow by 1.4 percent in 2013, according to a report prepared for the IFA. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, survival among independent businesses and franchises is similar; about half of new small businesses survive five years or more and one third survive 10 years or more.
Ted Zoller, a UNC-Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler Business School professor and the director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, said franchise advantages include a template business with a predefined pricing and marketing strategy, and access to market research. The biggest advantage, Zoller said, is the relevance and visibility of the brand. “People know the brand based on its experience with it elsewhere,” Zoller said. “So you can immediately get traction.”
‘Can’t do enough research’ - Franchising includes everything from restaurants and car washes to postal companies and hair salons. With more than 300 different lines of businesses, and in some cases hundreds of companies within those categories, the opportunities abound. Initial investments run between $5,000 and $5 million, Harrison said. Product distribution franchises, including Coca-Cola and Goodyear Tires, are businesses in which the franchisor owns the right to the trademark and sells that right to distribute their product to the franchisee, according to the IFA.
Business format franchises, such as Wendy’s and Jenny Craig Weight Loss, provide franchisees with a way to operate using the brand name, and often include ongoing assistance with services such as training, product supplies or marketing. Product franchises represent the largest percentage of total retail sales, but business format franchises are the most popular, according to the IFA. Once an entrepreneur decides to move forward, they need to “research, research, and research,” Harrison said. “You just can’t do enough research.” “If you are someone who is very independent and who likes to create and do things your own way, then franchising might not be the best way because the whole point of franchising is to follow a system,” Harrison said.
Most prospective franchisees have a company in mind before they start, but others, such as Wallace, turn to consultants for help. However, some consultants only represent certain brands, Harrison said. “Be aware of that and ask those questions up front and make sure that you are taking advantage of all the companies and brands that are out there,” Harrison said. Also, newcomers should seek the help of an attorney, business broker, or consultant before signing a franchise agreement. “It is a big commitment and it’s very, very important that you understand what you are signing,” Harrison said. Also, potential franchisees should be aware of pitfalls such as taking on the additional risk of buying a location instead of leasing, not having enough cash flow and assuming that the franchise brand is going to carry the business, Zoller said.
Opening the franchise - Wallace sought help from SCORE, which offers free counseling to small businesses, in the summer of 2011. Representatives there directed Wallace to Daniel Prendergast with The Entrepreneur’s Source, a franchisor that offers business coaching and helps connect prospective owners with franchising and business opportunities. Prendergast presented Wallace with three companies, and Wallace decided on
Window Genie. “It was pretty clear to me early on that I wanted to be with Window Genie, but I made sure that I fully investigated the other two options,” Wallace said.
Wallace paid about $32,000 to open his North Raleigh store in March. The company’s franchise fees start at $20,000, but Wallace paid more to claim a protected territory of 60,000 homes. No one else can open a Window Genie in those zip codes or advertise in that area, Wallace said. Window Genie supplies Wallace with training and marketing materials. However, he had to pay for equipment, he said. He spent about $7,000 on a Window Genie package of supplies, including a pressure washer and ladders. He also spent about $19,000 on a vehicle and additional marketing materials. Plus, Wallace pays Window Genie a bimonthly royalty fee, which is about 7 percent of his gross profit.
Window Genie gives guidance to ensure that branding and company standards are met, Wallace said. Wallace can run ads, but Window Genie has to approve the artwork. Also, Window Genie requires services to meet its standard, but Wallace handles customer scheduling and management. Wallace hires his employees, but they have to pass a background check and be insured. Wallace has access to the franchise’s experts and technicians, and is part of weekly meetings to discuss best business practices. “They guide. I decide. They approve,” Wallace said.
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| The team at ClearVue Professional Window Cleaning. |
NMSU grad sees clear path to own business (Las Cruces) — Peter Cruz, owner of Clear Vue professional window cleaning company, used to wear a tie to work. The Mayfield High School and New Mexico State University alum studied business and had worked as a CFO and an accountant. Then one day in 2006, someone came up with a unique suggestion. "I was getting tired of being in an office with a tie," Cruz said. "One I day was talking to a friend of mine I went to school with and he was telling me 'You ought to start a window-washing business.' "He was not sure the idea was a good. "I was incredulous," he said. "'Window washing, how can I make a living doing that?'" Even his wife was not sold on the idea.
But Cruz thought more about the suggestion. He knew he had the background to start his own company. "I looked into it and saw the potential," he said. "A lot of people start up a little service business like this and they don't have (background) to do the payroll or the marketing. The business side of it was easy for me." While he had the business acumen, Cruz had to learn the nuts and bolts of window washing. He said he touched base with other people he knew who were in the profession "I had to learn how to window wash, I had some training," he said. "I got videos, DVDs."
Cruz started out as a one-man show. "My very first job was the White Sands Federal Credit Union building (on North Main Street) and they're still our customer," he said. "I was scared. It seemed like a big building." more than six years later he has an eight-person staff. "Now I'm more like 90 percent in the office and 10 percent in the field," Cruz said. "When we have big jobs, I like to be there or at first-time jobs."
Recently
Clear Vue cleaned the windows at the new performing arts center at NMSU and will clean the windows at the 10-story Las Cruces Tower (formerly the Wells Fargo Tower). The company will use a lift if necessary or ladders. "The buildings here in Las Cruces are pretty much 99 percent accessible (to us)," Cruz said. The company has clients in Hatch, Truth or Consequences and Silver City as well. It washes the windows on campus at Western New Mexico University in Silver City.
He said his clients are "a good combination" between businesses and houses. "We used to be mostly residential, but now its about 60 percent residential and 40 percent commercial," he said. Cruz said that his company has also expanded its services. "We do air vent cleaning, dryer vent cleaning, window and blind cleaning, things people would ask us about all the time we said 'Let's just add that on,'" he said. "We do window screen repair."
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| Derek Campbell went door-to-door in Arlington this week telling potential customers about the painting business he plans to start this summer. |
Painting service gives collegians chance to run show: Derek Campbell holds nothing in his hands, not even a pen, as he walks door to door to pitch sales for his fledgling painting business. Campbell, 22, of Arlington relies on the power of persuasion and youthful charm. He introduces himself, explains that he is a student at Bentley University in Waltham, and tells potential customers about the business he plans to start this summer. Campbell is one of nearly 100 New England branch managers at Braintree-based
Collegiate Entrepreneurs Inc., which describes itself as “the most widely used college painting service” in the Northeast. The company operates almost entirely with college students as managers of small painting ventures. They offer powerwashing including surface preparation, scraping, sanding, priming, caulking, glazing & staining.
Like other students, Campbell was looking for real-world business experience when he signed on with Collegiate Entrepreneurs. He is working with the company, through a training program and his own wintertime sales calls, to start learning the ropes of entrepreneurship. “Bentley teaches you in the classroom but it’s hard to actually translate that in to the real world,” said Campbell. “This gives you the hands-on experience and realization of, ‘Oh! So this is how you run a business.’ ”Collegiate Entrepreneurs, founded in 2000, provides managers with $1 million in liability insurance, workers’ compensation coverage, and a host of marketing materials to help them get started. In return, the company receives a 34 percent cut of revenue.
The typical student-manager’s business grosses about $50,000 a year by painting about 25 houses, according to Collegiate Entrepreneurs. Those student-managers keep about 26 percent of their business revenues, the company said. Collegiate is similar to the better-known College Pro Painters, a larger company with a national presence founded in 1971 that specializes in window cleaning as well as painting. College Pro said its student franchisees paint about 7,000 homes a year, while Collegiate said it paints about 2,150 homes a year. Collegiate has branches throughout the Northeast and California and is opening an office in Maryland this year. The company has received nearly 300 manager applications for about 40 remaining positions, according to Eric Crews, the president and founder of Collegiate.
“The real shift right now is that a lot of different types of students are taking the initiative to learn to run their own business,” Crews said. “We’re seeing students in every major saying, ‘We want to run a business, and want the get the skills that go along with that.’ ”Collegiate reaches out to students by sending e-mails, passing out fliers, working with college career centers, and speaking in classrooms. Campbell heard about the company from an e-mail sent to Bentley students by executive manager Robert LaBrie, who also went to the school and is a veteran of Collegiate’s program.
The company draws student-managers from more than 30 colleges in New England, but LaBrie said Bentley and the University of New Hampshire are two of their best sources for potential managers. “We look for students who are hard-working and motivated, especially those people with a really no-quit attitude,” said LaBrie. “Painting may not be sexy, but these kids are learning what it takes to run a company.”
After an application process that included three interviews, LaBrie decided Campbell, who has worked as an event planner and disc jockey since his sophomore year of high school, fit the bill. Now Campbell is responsible for marketing his business, getting customers, finding and hiring a four-member crew, setting estimates, and landing jobs before the painting season begins. Come summer, he will also be in charge of buying supplies, paying his staff, and maintaining the budgets of his plan.
For now, Campbell is contacting prospects in a door-to-door marketing effort. “When people would ring our doorbell, I know my dad would always yell from the other room, ‘We don’t want any!’ ” he said. “But what I’ve found now is there is nothing more effective than actually going to potential clients directly and making that personal connection.” Campbell has also sent letters to his old friends and neighbors — “anyone I could think of with a house” — posted ads on Craigslist, and passed out countless fliers. He hasn’t nailed down any jobs, but he’s not discouraged. “I’m following up on some pretty solid leads, making sure we turn those into estimates to get some sales,” he said. “Painting might not be my passion, but starting a business is, so this is where I’m starting.”
After 10 years building and operating a multi-million dollar commercial painting business, Dave Notte wanted a new challenge. He approached me in 2014 hoping that Shack Shine, a window and gutter cleaning company, could join the O2E Brands family, leverage its systems, and create an international brand through franchising.
When the going gets tough…
