Entrepreneur Guys 3.0: The Franchise (1 Viewer)

[glvsav37]

So I did it. I bought myself a job. I am the new, soon to be owner of a Signarama franchise.

A bit of a background, I have been a graphic designer and working in NYC and Long Island agencies and most recently for myself since graduating college. I'm hitting 50 this year and have been considering a career pivot for a while, but really did not want to go back to working for someone else. I love what I do, but the industry is getting very difficult to navigate—cheap design sites like fiverr, Apps like Canva, and now AI are making pure creative design work a commodity.

I have a guy in a networking group who owns a franchise and is killing it. Keeping my eyes open, I'm noticing more people going to the end producer (the printer or sign shop) looking for the product knowing they most likely have a design team, vs coming to me first. So in talking to him, he let me know of a franchise that was for sale and the current owner was looking for a quick exit so it was priced very well.

So we checked it out and made a good but lower then asking offer and it was accepted.

I will be taking my graphic design experience and moving to doing things like exterior signs, illuminated signs, pole signs, banners, large format prints, and all the way to interior signage like business directory type signs, restaurant graphics, and even the little room numbers signs in hotels.

We are still working on the funding source so

 

[Beef Ravioli Part 2]

So I did it. I bought myself a job. I am the new, soon to be owner of a Signarama franchise.

A bit of a background, I have been a graphic designer and working in NYC and Long Island agencies and most recently for myself since graduating college. I'm hitting 50 this year and have been considering a career pivot for a while, but really did not want to go back to working for someone else. I love what I do, but the industry is getting very difficult to navigate—cheap design sites like fiverr, Apps like Canva, and now AI are making pure creative design work a commodity.

I have a guy in a networking group who owns a franchise and is killing it. Keeping my eyes open, I'm noticing more people going to the end producer (the printer or sign shop) looking for the product knowing they most likely have a design team, vs coming to me first. So in talking to him, he let me know of a franchise that was for sale and the current owner was looking for a quick exit so it was priced very well.

So we checked it out and made a good but lower then asking offer and it was accepted.

I will be taking my graphic design experience and moving to doing things like exterior signs, illuminated signs, pole signs, banners, large format prints, and all the way to interior signage like business directory type signs, restaurant graphics, and even the little room numbers signs in hotels.

We are still working on the funding source so

@glvsav37 how’s the new venture going?

 

[glvsav37]

@glvsav37 how’s the new venture going?

We are in a holding pattern now. Offer made and accepted. Finalizing financing. THe3 big thing we are doing now is looking at real estate. The franchise I bought was about an hour away, but the company is allowing us to move the location closer to us. So we have a few places we like and now we need to get more info on them like price per sq ft, cost to build out, etc. We hope to have that nailed down by next week.

After that, I have to go to florida for 2 weeks in late September for training and when I get back, I officially take over.

Right now im in the process of winding down a lot of my client work at my current company for the official transition.

thanks for checking in

 

[Beef Ravioli Part 2]

Looking forward to your updates!

 

[Cowboysfan8]

Good luck!

 

[glvsav37]

Big update....our real estate choice got approved by corporate!!!

The franchise we purchased was a good hour+ commute away. But the price we paid for it was so good, we decided we would suck it up and deal. However, mid way through the process, the regional VP (who has been my contact and guide throughout the process) had a conversation with the executive team about us, and they agreed to let us move the whole franchise much closer to us, like within a 15 min drive. Originally they wanted us closer to the north shore of our area, but the RE up there was crazy expensive, so we started to look more mid-island but had to be careful b/c there are other franchises south and just west of us. We found a great spot, rent was on par and the location is literary 5 mins from my house, its just a little more south then we expected. But we made our case and we just got approved. We toured there and will need some minor work—repainting to brand colors, adding a wall or 2 to make a reception/showroom area, but otherwise its pretty move in ready (I hope lol).

 

[KGB]

Congrats!!!!

Fellow biz owner here and following!

 

[glvsav37]

Its real now...In West Palm Beach for franchise training for the next 2 weeks. Not sure what to expect but we will see.

The race to wind down my design studio was hectic as I tried to tie up all my loose ends. I have 1 massive project still going on that the bulk of the work normally falls during these 2 weeks. I brought in someone I'm confident will keep things moving but to say I'm nervous is an understatement. This is my biggest client and they want to keep working with me after I open the shop, and ironically have a good amount of sign related business they want to send me in addition to my creative work i normally do for them

 

[glvsav37]

The energy here is infectious. The overall parent company is called United Franchise Group and the hold about 10 different franchises. With our training group is Signarama (My brand), Fully Promoted (a branded garment company), and 2 Food businesses (A greek food restaurant and Charcuterie Board company similar to Edible Arrangements). They also have a pizza company and a few coworking/temp office franchises.

We have been alternating between group lessons and then franchise specific training. For us they have a decked out classroom and a fully functioning sign shop. We did some training yesterday on the different sign materials, and today on pricing and creating estimates. Then we went in to the shop and made a simple sign. For the group lesson, we discussed basic business accounting principals and reviewed balance sheets and P&L examples.

We had lunch with the CEO Ray Titus today where he told us the company story and invited questions and discussion around the different businesses.

 

[The Z Machine]

GLLLLLLLLLL